


And then his eyes opened

by yellowjack



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Bonding, Family Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, Major Illness, Medical Inaccuracies, Multi, No Incest, Other, Self-Hatred, Sick Character, Sick Klaus Hargreeves, Slut Shaming, Smoking, Vomiting, We got ourselves an OC, Work In Progress, but like, more tags to come, slut shaming himself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:39:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 38,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26678350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowjack/pseuds/yellowjack
Summary: The Hargreeves didn't know how to be a family. Honestly, they've never been a family. So why start now? Why ask for help now?At least that's what Klaus has been telling himself.He can figure out this on his own. After all, he got himself in this mess.Not like they'd want to help anyway.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Everyone, Klaus Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 159
Kudos: 547





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> This is the first fic I've posted on this website. I know what path I want to take this story, but It's not CLOSE to being finished yet, so tags will be added as I go.
> 
> This work is completely coming from my head, but I've read a LOT of fanfiction so please forgive me if anything seems cliché.
> 
> Characters might be OOC. Also, everyone but Ben is alive. 
> 
> Feel free to give any comments you want, good or bad.
> 
> I have no editor, all mistakes are my own.

The cough wasn’t going away.

It had been three months, since the “Apocalypse That Wasn’t”. The “Notcalypse”. The “Apoca-Wasn’t”. The “Apaca-Lapse in Judgment”. The –

**_Anyway._ **

It’s been three months since Five blasted his way back into the right decade, told the family that the world was ending and then proceeded to pull teeth until the world was saved. It wasn’t quite clear what caused the world to keep turning. After Luther had locked their littlest sister into the secret basement room (oh, and by the way – _kinky_ Papa Hargreeves), Allison had been distraught. Banging her fists on Luther’s massive shoulders and arms until he finally listened to reason. And by that point, Five had found his tiny, gunhole ridden body to the secret lair. And if anyone is able to leave a secret room at will, it’s a psychopathic 58-year-old man trapped in the body of pre-pubescent boy.

After sweet baby Vanya was safe with Allison, sobbing and begging her forgiveness, Five explains that this Harold Jenkins character is the one that’ll cause the end times. By this point, all of the siblings, alive and otherwise, have made their way to the sitting room. By this point, the whirlwind of emotion had done nothing but ramp up Klaus’ ever-growing nausea. Withdrawals had hit full force, and the constant sound, movement and regular old Hargreeves turmoil was not helping. The world was slowly turning fuzzy and Klaus slowly started sinking.

“Guys…” Klaus said, trying to reach out to Diego who was sitting beside him, but only accomplishing a slight slap on the arm.

“Stop, Klaus,” Diego distractedly said, not even turning towards his brother. “Now Five, how are we supposed to find this guy if we don’t even know who he is?”

“I don’t know, idiot!” Five said, paler than normal but not at all lacking in his normal spunk. “But we only have a few hours to figure it out, so how about instead of complaining, you start coming up with ideas!”

“Guys… I think something…” and then, black. Klaus wouldn’t find out about this until later, but he had suddenly stiffened on the couch and started shaking uncontrollably.

An all encompassing “Shit!” rang through the air, as the lanky mans body shook itself onto the ground.

“Shit, roll him on his side! And Five, get Pogo!” Diego shouted. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen a seizure. Hell, this wasn’t the first time he’d seen Klaus have a seizure. Going on and off drugs the amount of times Klaus has throughout his life means seizures aren’t that uncommon.

Though, that doesn’t make them any less dangerous, and it isn’t any less terrifying to see your brother shaking uncontrollably on the ground, head and limbs hitting the floor rhythmically. And while Diego might have seen this before, that didn’t mean his other siblings had the same pleasure.

“Wha….what’s going on? Is he having a seizure? Diego, have you seen this before?” Vanya rattled off, breaking out of Allison’s arms and kneeling on the ground with her brothers. Five had already flashed off, while Luther and Allison sat back looking dumbfounded.

“Yes, it’s a seizure, he’s going through withdrawals, what do you think would happen?” Diego said, rolling Klaus into recovery position. He started muttering to himself, “I wasn’t thinking, he’s going cold turkey, we should have expected this. We just have to wait it out.”

After what felt like forever, the shaking stopped and Five was blinking back into the room.

“Pogo is in the infirmary, come on.”

When Klaus opened his eyes, the room was too bright and it felt like blades were stabbing him in the head.

“Christ on a cracker, what the hell did I take?”

“It might be more what you didn’t take.” Ben, in all in ghostly form, was sitting in a chair off to the side of the bed Klaus was laying on, once again reading the book that seemed to appear whenever he wanted it.

“You scared the shit out of everyone, by the way. You had a seizure.”

“Well that explains why I feel like roasted shit,” Klaus said, as he started stretching. As soon as he finished talking, Vanya walked through the doors.

“Klaus! You’re awake!” She rushed over to the bed, and wrapped her arms around her brother’s bony shoulders. “You’ve been out for a few hours, are you feeling any better? Pogo said the seizure was due to withdrawal.”

Klaus glanced over at Ben before responding, who lifted up two fingers to give him an idea of the time he had lost.

“Oh, I’m right as rain, Vanya! I’m feeling so rested after my little _siesta._ But, what are you doing here? Didn’t you have a special violin thing?”

“Oh, I told them I couldn’t come. Family emergency and all.”

Klaus went rim rod straight in surprise, “Vanie! You shouldn’t have done that! I’m fine, it’s not like this hasn’t happened before,” he said with an easy smile.

Klaus didn’t understand why, but that just seemed to make his sister look even more sad.

“Klaus, of course I stayed here, I was worried about you. When I saw you fall –”

But she was cut off by a ring going through the room. Her head shot up.

“Oh, that must be Leonard,” she said, half to herself. “I should go let him in before someone else does. I ran out on him earlier, I was just so worried about Allison,” she explained.

“Vanya!” Klaus exclaimed, excitedly, “Is that your _beau_ at the door? PLEASE tell me you made sure Luther and Diego wouldn’t be able to answer?”

The look on her face was all the answer he needed.

“Well then, come on! You need to save him!”

Klaus threw his legs over the bed and tested his balance. He hid the fact that he wasn’t quite sturdy by linking arms with Vanya and shuffle walking out into the mansion, where voices belonging to Luther and Diego could already be heard overlapping each other. Five was sitting at the bar, martini glass in hand.

“Good to see you awake again,” Five’s voice sounded dry, but his eyes betrayed his real relief.

At that moment, a man that Klaus vaguely recognized walked in with Luther and Diego on either side. Allison was trying to get Luther’s attention while frantically scribbling on a notepad.

“Who said you could come here?” Luther was demanding. For the first time in years, it seemed that Diego and Luther were on the same page, Diego somehow thinking he would look more intimidating acting as Luther’s bodyguard. As if there was enough Diego to protect _ALL_ of Luther’s body.

“I did,” Vanya said. While her voice was shaking, it amazed both Klaus and Ben that she was able to talk back to the guy who just hours before locked her up. “I asked him to come over. It’s not just your house Luther.”

The man in question walked over the Vanya, pausing when he saw Klaus.

“Hey, uh, Klaus, right? Vanya told me what happened, glad to see you’re doing ok?”

“Yeah, sure I’m great,” Klaus said, distractedly.

“Klaus?” Ben, was looking at Klaus, but Klaus was preoccupied with what was behind Vanya’s boyfriend.

Or better yet, who.

“This piece of shit is my son, and he killed me! This bastard needs to pay!” shouted a large man standing over Vanya’s guy.

“Hold up, hold up, hold up,” Klaus said, slyly wedging himself in front of Vanya, “who are you?”

Diego looked concerned, Luther looked annoyed and Allison looked curious.

“Klaus, what are you doing up, sit down,” and “Klaus be quiet, this is serious,” were said at the same time.

But Klaus didn’t hear them – all he heard was the Large Man.

“This fucker,” he screamed, finally seeing that Klaus was paying attention to him, “killed me! His name is Harold Jenkins, and he’s nothing but a fucking liar!”

At this point, Klaus was not only fuzzy from the withdrawal but thoroughly confused.

“Vanya, I thought you said you invited him?” Klaus questioned.

“I did,” she said, looking overwhelmed, “this is my boyfriend.”

“But I thought Five was looking for Harold Jenkins? Why is Five looking for him?”

This was when Five started paying attention.

“Klaus, we don’t have time for this, can you just –” Luther was cut off when Five blinked in front of him.

“Shut up, Luther. Klaus, did you just say this was Harold Jenkins? Why do you think that?”

“Because,” at this point, the conversation was getting annoying and in no way was helping Klaus’ head, “that’s what the dead guy said.”

And that’s when all hell broke loose.

Because it seemed that – unlike the rest of their siblings – Five believed what Klaus had to say. It might be because Five wasn’t there when Klaus’ addiction truly took a turn for a worse. Maybe it was because Five hadn’t had enough coffee that day. Maybe it was because of blah, blah, blah. It didn’t matter why. What mattered is what.

As soon as Five found out that Vanya’s boyfriend was Harold Jenkins – and not Leonard Peabody like Vanya thought – he pulled out a gun hidden in his school boy shorts and shot him.

**_Anyway._ **

That was three months ago.

Since then, all of the Umbrella Academy had stayed under the same roof, for the most part. Vanya was working to get over the fact that not only did see her boyfriend killed in front of her, but that she was dating the man that would probably end the world. It didn’t help that they later found out that he had a weird obsession with all of them and that he had a dead lady in his attic.

Not. Cool.

Allison had been working on her voice, slowly becoming more able to speak. She had been video chatting Claire every day, and was working with the courts to start her court mandated therapy while staying with her siblings.

Diego was keeping up with his nightly activities. His lady officer friend had somehow lived, and he was back to spending time with her and causing problems while she was on the clock.

Five was just as obsessive as ever, trying to make sure they truly stopped the apocalypse from taking place. He typically kept to himself, coming out everyone in a while when Luther started mandating Family Bonding Time, but keeping to his equations and other confusing nonsense.

Luther was working on being a better Number 1. He had apologized to Vanya, but it was obvious that there was a lot of work that needed to be done there. Mostly, he was moping around, hoping to connect with the siblings that left him in the mansion years ago.

Grace and Pogo were still wondering around the house, seeming more and more like the ghosts that haunted Klaus every day.

Ben was doing what any ghost does – annoying the shit out of Klaus.

And that was because of this. Damn. Cough.

“Klaus, this isn’t withdrawals, it’s been too long. This is something else,” Ben said, for the millionth time.

“Benny, you’re worrying for nothing. I feel fine,” Klaus said, hoarsely. He was lounging on his bed, knitting needles in his hands and poorly made scarf falling along his side. “I’ve been on drugs for years; my immune system is shit. Of course, I have a cold,” then took a moment to cough.

“Look,” Ben leaned in, looking intense, “all I’m saying is go to the free clinic. It’s more than a cold. You’ve had a fever; you can barely eat. Tomorrow’s Wednesday, if you go early people might be at work! You could go in, get some antibiotics or something and come home.”

“Listen, Ben,” Klaus said, putting down the knitting needles, “I’m fine. It’s not a big deal, I’d know if it was. So, we’re dropping it. If it gets bad, I’ll go to a fucking doctor but not now.”

At this point he huffed and pointedly looked anywhere but his brother.

In just a few days, Ben would get what he wanted.


	2. ACT I Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally going to the doctor, but still leaving with questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Since I just posted the prologue yesterday, I thought I would add on this new chapter as well. I'm about to start a 10 day marathon shift at work, so I'm not sure when I'll update next, but I promise to try to add something this coming weekend at least.
> 
> Once again, I am NOT a medical professional. All of this information is coming from Dr. Google. That includes prices without insurance on medications and what-not. If I got something wrong, feel free to let me know.
> 
> No editor still, mistakes are all made by me and the 60 oz of coffee I drank while writing this.

Klaus woke up covered in sweat and choking on his own spit, knitting needles falling into the floor.

His eyes flew open as he ran from his nightmare, only to be greeted by the living world. Or, really, the unliving world.

Ghosts were hanging around the edge of his room, lightly dimly coming in through the curtains and flashing through their bodies as they stood aimlessly at his walls. Ben seemed to be the only one who notice that he was actually awake.

“You ok?” his concern showing in his eyes, “Another nightmare?”

“Yeah,” Klaus pushed the wet rings of hair out of his face, feeling the heat as it burned off his face, “and a bitch of one at that.”

Sleep no longer an option, Klaus grabbed the clothes that were laying next to his bed from the night before and stood up to dress himself. As he stood, black dots he hadn’t noticed at the edge of his vision grew and he swayed sharply.

“Whoa man, you ok?” Ben reached out his hands, seeming to forget that he would just phase straight through his brother.

“I’m fine, just stood up too fast, relax,” Klaus stood still for a moment, before pulling on his leggings and adding the large tank top. He glanced at the clock and saw it was just about 7 in the morning, as he took tucked a packet of cigarettes into his waistband. “Might as well get breakfast before everyone storms the kitchen.”

Not wanting to stop Klaus from eating if that’s what he really planned on doing, Ben kept his worries to himself and followed silently behind him down the hallway. Klaus took shuffling steps outside of his room, quietly making his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, where soft sounds of metal hitting china could be heard from the doorway.

Klaus walked in to see Allison stirring what he believed to be a cup of tea listlessly at the table, staring down vacantly.

“Well if it isn’t Hollywood’s sweetheart! Allison, to what do I owe this early morning pleasure,” he exclaimed, hiding his hoarseness and soft coughs with the easy levity he was known for.

Allison raised one perfectly manicured eyebrow (seriously, where was she getting that done? They looked amazing! He was going to have to get a recommendation).

“What are you doing up so early? I assumed I’d be the only one down here,” her voice sounded better than it did a few months ago (since there WASN’T any voice a few months ago), but it still sounded rough, like she had been gargling rocks the day before and planned to continue the activity as soon as she woke up.

“Darling sister! Don’t strain yourself on my account. And I was just coming down to start the morning, you know, early worm gives the bird and all that,” Klaus said, hiding his unsteadiness by sliding into a chair in front of his sister.

“I don’t think that’s how the saying goes,” Allison said, rolling her eyes when Klaus made a noise of distress deep in his throat, pushing her notepad that was sitting beside her toward her arm. She then wrote, _You feeling ok? You sound a little rough._

Klaus felt warmth blossom from his stomach, surprised that his sister even noticed anything was wrong.

“Oh, you know how it is, everyone sounds a bit off when they first wake up,” but he was betrayed when the words started crackling near the end of his sentence, causing him to start hacking away into his elbow as harsh coughs shook themselves from his chest.

Allison looked at him with a look of both concern and skepticism before she stood up and made her way to the counter. She grabbed another mug, filled it up with water from a kettle Klaus hadn’t noticed until that moment, and put a tea bag in to steep. She then brought it back to the table with her, snagging plastic bear filled with honey that had been sitting near the kettle.

“Well, aren’t you just a regular sweetpea! Shouldn’t I be the one looking after you?” Klaus said, gratefully taking the mug and allowing the steam to hit his face. Truthfully, he’d never been one to drink tea when he was feeling ill, never really having the means to make it for himself. But if Allison was going to go out of her way to help him, he wasn’t going to turn down her kindness. Plus, she was a mom now, she had like, extra ‘mom knowledge’ or something now.

 _I barely did anything, and I’m fine. Are you catching a cold or something?_ She wrote, taking a sip of her own tea as she sat back down.

“Oh, who knows, who knows, probably just my new, sober immune system catching up to the rest of me. You know how it is,” he said, shaking off her concern as he added honey to his tea and took a sip. It really wasn’t that bad. “You sound just like Ben. Seriously, I’m fine.”

At the mention of Ben’s name, Allison flinched and looked away, just like Klaus knew she would. Ever since the world didn’t end and the family started getting closer, Klaus had started pushing the point that he could see Ben. He was sober, surely, they would believe him, right? But of course, that wasn’t the case. Luther started accusing him of lying and when Klaus looked around for help, he was ignored. He finally became angry and desperate for recognition, choosing instead to stands up to Luther to prove he was telling the truth. The exchange started getting heated, Klaus’ patience thin as he was continuing to go through withdrawals. And suddenly, his hands flashed blue – and Ben was standing beside him in all his spectral glory. Of course, that led to stunned silence, hugs, crying and finally, belief. But it also led to guilt which it seems many of his siblings still haven’t gotten over.

 _Then maybe you should listen to us,_ she wrote, glancing around, acting like if she looked hard enough, she’d be able to see their dead brother.

“Oh, don’t you start, too,” Klaus dramatically lifted his hands beside his head, _Hello_ and _Goodbye_ standing out starkly against his pale skin. “Listen, I’ve had worse than a little cough. I’m taking care of it!”

Before Allison had a chance to react, Diego walked in the room, looking like he’d just gotten in from a night of his own illicit activities.

“Diego!” Allison said in her raspy voice, with more disbelief on her face than concern, looking like a parent ready to scold an unruly child.

“Well, it seems that you have your hands full here, I’ll just leave you to it,” Klaus took the moment to stand, gripping the table for just a moment, before using the distraction Diego provided as Allison walked around the table with her pen racing across her notepad, his brother taking a step back in an attempt to run from the inevitable. It seemed that Allison was under the impression that Diego’s ‘night time activities’ were coming to a halt.

Klaus went through the mansion, walking out the back doors into the courtyard, taking a step into the gloomy morning. He lifted up his tank top, and slide a cigarette and lighter out of his waistband, lighting it, and taking a long drag.

“Do you think that’s a good idea, you know, considering?” Ben asked as he watched his brother breathe in the smoke.

Klaus coughed wetly into his wrist, “This is what my last vice, sue me.”

Ben shook his head, “All I’m saying is, you’re already having a heard enough time as it is. I mean, you’re out of breath just walking out here.”

And he wasn’t exaggerating. Klaus was leaning against a pillar by the door, panting for breath as he held his cigarette in shaky hands, fingers trembling as he tapped off some ash.

“Maybe I’m just out of shape, did you think about that, Benny,” Klaus mocked, stopping again when he choked into his elbow. “Look, can’t a guy just smoke in peace without the ghost of Christmas past nagging him to death,” he paused. “Ha! Get it! Death.”

Ben rolled his eyes, “Look, I’m just concerned that you’re signing your –”

But he stopped when Klaus started hacking and didn’t stop.

“Just breathe man, just breathe.”

Klaus finally stopped, one hand over his mouth, the other accidently dropping the cigarette to the ground where it went out. Klaus just took a minute to catch his breath. His palm was wet.

“Klaus?” Ben asked, tentatively, “you ok?”

Klaus slowly pulled his hand away from his mouth, exposing small droplets of some foul fluid both yellow and rust colored.

“Ben,” Klaus continued to look at his palm, a look of curiosity on his face, “Where did you say that clinic was?”

\---

It might have been Wednesday, and it might have been just before 11 in the morning, but it seemed that everyone who was on a budget in the city was feeling poorly this morning. The free clinic that Ben guided Klaus to was a few blocks away from the Umbrella Academy, and its lobby was filled to the brim. Soon after coughing up the monster from the black lagoon into his hand, Klaus discreetly slipped back up to his room, grabbing the money he had squirreled away, and left through the front door to walk to the clinic.

The lobby was with family’s with members leaning on each other, pregnant women and their partners, people with bleeding injuries and coughing children filled the waiting room, all waiting for a chance to see some sort of medical professional.

Klaus was sitting in the corner near the front, a small table filled with magazines on his left and a man with his head wrapped in gauze who seemed to be sleeping to his right. Ben was leaning beside the door and table, and glanced over as Klaus started coughing wetly into his wrist again. They’d been there for a couple of hours.

“You good?” Ben asked, glancing over from his ever-present novel.

Klaus just nodded as he started to get his breath back, not wanting to talk to air in front of a group of people, and at a medical facility at that. Talking to one’s self never goes well.

To be honest, he might have been sitting there for a while, but he felt like he’d been working on the streets all day. He ached, deep in his bones. His hips felt brittle and he couldn’t get comfortable no matter how he shifted in the old waiting room chair. His shoulder blades felt like they were rubbed raw by leaning against the back of it and his head was both too big and too small. But the biggest complaint was his chest, which stayed tight no matter how many times he coughed. He was contemplating whether he should risk losing his seat by going out for a quick smoke when the door to the back of the clinic swung open.

“Hargreeves, Klaus?” Her voice sounded tense and harassed, like she’d been doing this for too long.

Klaus stood up and followed her into the back. He usually wasn’t unconscious for this part of doctors’ visits (or, you know, hospitalizations), so he listened carefully as his height, his weight, his temperature. She scribbled down each number, Ben looking over her shoulder with his browed furrowed.

Finally, she finished squeezing his arm and pinching his finger before she led him to a small room with a bed covered in paper, a chair and a stool. He sat down in the chair after she told him the doctor would see him soon and put his head in his hands, rubbing his eyes.

“At least we have some privacy now,” Ben said, sitting down on the stool.

Klaus laughed, “Yeah, nothing like sitting in a room full of the sick and infirm to make peace and quiet that much sweeter.”

Ben snorted, “At least we didn’t have to wait that long. Not like you were going to do anything productive with those couple of hours.”

“But Ben,” he whined, “I’m tired! I just want to go home and take a nap!”

“Well, you’ve slept worse places,” Ben said, pointing at the examination table. “Just lay down. Your sick, they won’t care.”

Klaus shrugged, standing slowly before he slide onto the bed. The paper crinkled as he laid down, bending his arm over his head as a makeshift pillow.

He was asleep as soon as his eyes closed.

\---

The next time Klaus opens his eyes, it’s because the exam room door is opening, and a middle-aged, balding man holding a clipboard walks in, looking up when Klaus sits up.

“Good afternoon,” the man says, “My name is Dr. Profit, I’ll be examining you today.” He held out his hand, to shake Klaus’, which he did. “You can just keep sitting there, no reason to get up. So, what brings you in today.”

Klaus glanced at Ben before answering, “Um, I’ve had this bad cough for a while? And stuff started coming up,” he said, pausing to wetly hack into his wrist.

“Well, let’s just take a quick look at you, see what’s going on.”

The man walked over, bringing the ear pieces of his stethoscope, and putting the other part onto his chest to listen. He moved it twice, before his eyebrows drew together. He asked if Klaus would take off his shirt, and then continued to listen, having him breathe in and then listening intently to his hacking that followed.

“How long has this been going on?”

Klaus looked over a Ben for help, “About two wee…” Ben shook his head and held 4 fingers, “I mean 4 weeks? Maybe?”

The doctor _tsked_ , and looked back at the clipboard.

“Well, from the sound of your lungs, I’d guess you’ve got some kind of lung infection. The stuff you said you coughed up, did it have color?” at Klaus’ nod, he continued, “Well, that seems like pneumonia. Considering your age, it’s gotten a bit out of hand.” At this, he glanced down at Klaus’ arms and was silent for a moment.

“Are you still using?” he asked, nodding to the scars in the crook of Klaus’ elbows. Klaus crossed his arms, suddenly self-conscious.

“No, I’m clean, you can test me,” he started rubbing his arms, suddenly chilled.

“Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble, I just wanted to make sure,” Dr. Profit lifted his hands one with the clipboard, the other open in flat, placatingly. “Look, in cases of pneumonia, it’s typically best to get a chest x-ray. But considering where you decided to go get help today, I’m going to guess you don’t have medical insurance,” he paused and looked at Klaus, whose eyes wondered down as he nodded. “Right. So, I won’t make you try and pay for that today. But, you are going to need some pretty strong antibiotics and I want to take some blood for testing. The kind of test I’m going to do is free, but the medication could cost you a bit. I’d say around $40. Will you be able to pay for that?”

“Yeah, I have some cash with me, that’s no problem,” Klaus said, glad he thought to grab the little bit of cash he had before leaving the house that morning.

“Good. Then I’m going to write a script for your medication and leave it up front. A nurse will come in and take blood from you, and we’ll call you with your results when we have them. Any questions?”

“Yeah, if you know what’s wrong, why are you taking blood?” Klaus asked, shifting again as his hips ached.

“Anytime someone hooked on IV drugs comes in sick, it’s best to check and make sure there are no underlying issues. And because you’re already so sick, I just want to be safe and make sure you’re okay,” he explained, talking like he was calming a spooked animal. After checking to make sure Klaus would stay in the room, he left to get a nurse to take his blood.

Ben turned to his even numbered brother, concern flashing in his eyes, “I don’t like this Klaus.”

“Yeah well,” Klaus laid back out on the examination bed, “you got what you wanted. I’ll even get the meds, if that means you’ll shut up.”

Ben went quite and Klaus closed his eyes. He’s not sure if he dozed off, but it wasn’t long until the same nurse was back at the door, and leading him to another little room. She stuck a needle in him (oddly reminiscent of simpler times) before leading him to the front desk, where he grabbed the prescription and walked out the front doors.

Klaus and Ben started wandering down the street together, aiming for a nearby CVS. When he got to his destination, he followed the signs to the pharmacy and waited.

“Hi, uh, I need to get this?” He handed over the small paper, wrinkled from being in his pocket after walking out of the clinic.

The woman behind the counter looked him up and down before glancing at the paper with a raised eyebrow. “Yeah, we can get that, but it’ll be a second. We’ll call you when we’re done,” she said, before walking off.

Klaus took the time to get any other essentials he would need, with Ben’s help. He walked over to the fridge section, grabbing some water after realizing how thirsty he was. He cracked it open and started drinking it, and started towards the make-up section.

“Wait a second,” Ben went in front of him, stopping him in his proverbial tracks. “You need some other stuff if you really have pneumonia.” Klaus rolled his eyes, but was too tired to argue, instead following behind his ghost brother as he guided him through the store.

Ben led him through the pain relief aisle, and told him what to get, guiding him away from cold and cough medications and sticking to safer options. Ben was finished just in time for “Hargreeves, to pharmacy” to ring throughout the store.

Klaus walked up to the counter, where he was met by a different woman. This one had a white jacket on as well, with ‘Pharmacist’ embroidered on it. She looked important, maybe he should get a white jacket and he’d look important too? He started mussing if a bright pink jacket would have the same effect when the woman spoke and brought him back on track.

“Mr. Hargreeves?” she asked, to which Klaus answered with a nod. “Great, so we have a prescription for some pretty strong Amoxicillin for you. I wanted to make sure you know that with medication this strong means you have a bad infection. For it to completely heal, you need to make sure to take ALL of this medication without missing a dose. Now, do you have insurance with you?”

Klaus said he didn’t, so she just rang up the medication plus his other purchases before giving him the total. He handed over the money, and left the store with a plastic bag and $6.39 to his name.

He walked the dozen or so blocks to the Umbrella Academy, opening the door and heading toward the stairs so he could pass out on his bed before Ben’s voice stopped him.

“Dude, you haven’t eaten all day, and you’re going to need to eat to take your meds. Just run to the kitchen and take something with you.”

Klaus whined wordlessly, feeling slightly nauseous, but turned around and headed toward the kitchen. Thankfully, he was alone save for his 24/7 babysitter. He went to the fridge, grabbed some vanilla yogurt he thought probably belonged to Vanya as well as a spoon, and started eating. He sipped on the rest of his water, took out his new prescription bottle, and took the massive horse pill he had been given. He was still holding onto the bottle when Five flashed into the room, making him jump.

“Jesus H. Christ, I can’t say I missed that happening all the damn time,” Klaus gasped, hastily putting the obvious orange bottle into the CVS bag he had set beside him on the table.

Five raised a singular eyebrow, “Maybe if you weren’t doing something weird you wouldn’t be so jumpy. What did you have anyway?”

“Lady products, Five. You wouldn’t understand,” he took that moment to gracefully stand up, throwing away the empty water bottle and his (or Vanya’s, whatever) empty yogurt container before swinging his body out of the room. Thankfully, Five didn’t follow him.

After Klaus climbed the mountain of stairs, he went to his bedroom and shut the door before setting down the plastic bag on this desk and sitting on his bed.

“I gotta say, Ben,” Klaus started, rubbing up and down his face with his hands, “being sick is a lot of work. I feel like I’ve been up for days.”

“Go to sleep,” Ben said, “It’s late enough that no one would question if you took a nap or something.”

“You have read my mind, Benny boy,” Klaus said, sheading his tank top and putting his cigarettes on his desk before slipping out of his leggings.

He laid down on top of his blankets, suddenly sweltering, and closed his eyes before he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, this chapter is an ode to my ever-present HATRED for the American medical system. I thought taking a look at Klaus having to deal with this fucked up system while being a (former) homeless, drug addict would kind of help me work through my distain. Anyway, feel free to correct anything I got wrong.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Act I Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus might want to bond with his siblings, but its hard when you don't quite know how to take care of yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MY HELL SHIFT IS OVER!
> 
> Hello everyone! I'm finally back to my regular shift at work, so I'm hoping to have weekly updates for you.
> 
> I'm trying to bring in some plot slowly, but I'm really into world building so I'm sorry if this is moving too slowly for you.
> 
> Again, as is usual, all mistakes are my own, medical and otherwise.

Klaus woke up hours later to a knock and the sound of his door opening. He coughed into his arm, his chest crackling, as he lifted himself up onto his elbow glancing at the intruder entering his sanctuary.

“Hey, Klaus,” Vanya’s mousey voice could be heard before her face peaked through the door. “I brought some food home after rehearsals. Are you hungry?”

Klaus took a moment to catch his breath, glancing at the clock and seeing it was just past 7 in the evening. He scratched absently at his chest, and noticing that at some point, someone’s blanket had been laid over top of him. His money was on Diego.

“ _Meine kleine Schwester!_ How kind of you to think of us,” Klaus swung his legs over the side of his bed, discreetly coughing into his raised fist as his head got used to the new altitude. “I’ll be right down, just let me freshen up.”

“Alright Klaus, no rush,” she grinned at him and turned around, heading back down the stairs.

Once he knew she was gone, Klaus slumped over, pulling his knees up to his chest and groaning. It served no purpose than to aggravate his chest again, sending him choking on air and shredding his throat.

Ben barely glanced up, “You should go downstairs and eat, you’ve lost weight.”

“Oh shush, Bennifer. How would you even know?”  
“I was the one who actually saw your chart today, remember?” Ben said, glancing up at his brother who was shifting through clothes sitting at the bottom of his closet before he grabbed a flannel that once belonged to Diego and some yoga pants that had been taken from Allison. He scratched his at his chest some more after the shirt fell on top of it.

“Yeah, well, don’t get your panties in a wad, I’m going downstairs.”

Klaus walked down to the kitchen, just to hear that it seems that Vanya had somehow gotten all of their siblings’ downstairs. All of them were at the counter, scooping out food out of different Chinese take-out containers. The wonders of free food never cease to amaze Number Four. Though the calm didn’t last long, as Luther seemed to run into Diego breaking the tentative calm.

“Watch were you’re going, ape-man,” Diego grunted, using his arm to shove at Luther.

“Don’t push me, asshole,” Luther pushed back, but jostling Diego more than expected, causing their knife-throwing brother to spill some of the rice he had placed on his plate onto the floor.

“Would you jackasses move already? Stop wasting the food,” Five pushed his miniature body in between Numbers One and Two, spooning his own serving onto a plate with finality before turning to the table to sit down with Vanya and Allison, who had already finished getting their food.

“Hey Klaus,” Vanya waved at him and then glanced at the food, “go ahead and get a plate, there’s enough for everyone.”

Klaus smiled and grabbed a plate, walking up behind Luther. He looked at the counter and saw that somehow, even though he was the last one there, the family would probably have leftovers. Good ol’ Vanya, always looking out. But even looking at the food was enough for Klaus’ small appetite to make a hasty escape.

“Just get a little bit, Klaus. You don’t have to fill the plate, just get some rice and vegetables,” Ben said, seeing that his brother had paled as soon as he looked at the food.

Klaus swallowed thickly and proceeded to scoop up food onto his plate, filling it up about half way. He then turned around and went to sit with the rest of his siblings, pulling out a chair for Ben before sitting down in his own. He looked down at the food, and brought a small bit up to his mouth as his siblings continued to chat around him, continuing a conversation they seemed to be having before Klaus got there.

“All I’m saying, is that we need to stay in contact with each other. We don’t know exactly how we stopped the apocalypse. Something else could be coming, and if I don’t know where you guys are, how are we supposed to stop anything?” Five ranted, raving around a pair of chopsticks around before finally using both to stab a piece of chicken that was sitting on his plate.

“Listen, man,” Diego looked up from his plate, “some of us, have lives outside of this place, jobs. You can’t just expect us to be at your beck and call.”

“And what job do you have exactly? Don’t you just run around in leather?” Luther asked, eating from a mountain high pile of food he had on his plate. “Can’t you just leave all that to that officer you know?”

At this Klaus perked up, clearing his throat, “Lady Officer! How _is_ she doing, Diego?”

“She’s fine, Klaus. And shut up, Luther, at least I’m actually doing something besides walking around and wondering what Dad would want. Well guess what _Number One_ , Dad’s dead, move on.”

“Guys –” Vanya had a stressed look on her face, and glanced between Diego and Luther like they were a game of tennis. Allison grabbed her hand and squeezed before looking between their meathead brothers, glaring.

“Listen, idiots,” Five cut in, “I don’t care about your pissing contest. We just need to stay in contact, Allison and Vanya already have phones for work, we all need to get one now. All of us,” when he said this last part, he looked at Klaus. “This is going to cost a bit of money, I’d say we all should be able to pay for it, given how the estate should have split.”

At this, Klaus looked down at his plate. It seems that his dearest siblings weren’t aware of the fact that if he wasn’t currently living in the mansion, he’d likely be living in the dumpster beside of it. Because while his siblings seem to have gotten something from their daddy dearest in his death, it seems that old Reggie had actually made true of his old promise to make sure Klaus was not in his will. So, the unfortunate face was, the six odd dollars he had left after his appointment at the clinic and picking up his meds. By the look on Five’s face, he might have suspected that.

“Tomorrow, we can go out and get what we need,” Five continued, glancing back down at his food while incorrectly using his chop sticks (seriously, why didn’t someone just give the poor guy a fork).

“Yeah, whatever. I’ve got stuff to do tonight, I’ll see you guys later,” and with that, Diego stood up with his empty plate, took it to the sink, “and don’t worry Five, I’ll make sure to be back by curfew.”

Diego smirked at Five and walked out.

Huh, for some reason, Klaus thinks that Diego might have said that sarcastically.

“Are you actually going to eat, Klaus?” Ben asked from the chair beside of him. Klaus hissed at him before looking down at his plate. Honestly, he had eaten more than he thought he would, having shoveled about five mouthfuls of fried rice and some vegetables into his mouth. He coughed roughly into his elbow, his chest rattling and catching the attention of his siblings.

“If I’d known you were sick, I would have gotten you some soup, Klaus. Are you ok? That cough doesn’t sound good,” Vanya fretted. Leave it to Vanya to be concerned, although the rest of his family was also glancing at him. Even Diego had stopped in the doorway.

Klaus cleared his throat into his raised fist, “Oh, don’t you worry your pretty little head, it’s just a cold! The old immune system isn’t what it used to be, and all that. Don’t worry, Allie has been caring for me today. She even made me tea!”

Allison blushed, and then it seemed the tension that had entered the air had left. Diego walked out of the room, and Vanya and Allison started their own conversations, with Five and Luther joining in every so often.

Ben stared at his brother, “You should tell them. The doctor was worried something else could be wrong, plus you’re already pretty sick. They should know in case your fever spikes or something.”

“I’m fine, I have meds now, there’s nothing to worry about,” Klaus mumbled at him. He ate a little bit more before standing up, stopping himself from swaying by gripping the table. “It’s been lovely my dears, but I must get my beauty sleep! Vanya, thank you ever so much for dinner.” Klaus upped his usual dramatics, trying to through his siblings off, especially since he could feel coughs building in his sore chest. No need for them to ask more questions.

He tossed his uneaten food in the trash and put his plate in the sink before bidding goodnight to his family and rushing out of the room. He walked to one of the downstairs bathrooms, shut the door and grabbed a towel before bending in half and using it to hacking wetly into, deafening the sound. After what felt like an eternity, he was left panting and sweating, _Goodbye_ being used to hold himself up on the sink in a white-knuckled grip.

“Are you alright? Maybe you should get some help, the others should still be in the kitchen. You can summon me, I can go get them,” Ben said, hoovering by his side with his hands up, like he wanted to comfort his brother but knew he couldn’t.

Klaus opened his mouth to talk, nothing but a rasp coming out of his throat. He raised the towel being held in _Hello_ to his mouth, giving two sharp coughs before trying again.

“I’m fine,” he panted, voice rough and quiet. He stood up straighter and threw the hand towel over his shoulder before scratching roughly at the side of his chest. “I just want a bath and then my bed and I’ll be as right as rain.”

He left the bathroom and walked up to the stairs before starting the long journey up. He had to stop half way up to give a few short coughs, before continuing up the steps toward his room. When he finally made it to the top, he was sweaty and out of breath. He used the wall for balance before making it to the bathroom across the hall from his room. He walked in, threw down the hand towel he had been carrying with him being all but collapsing on the closed toilet bowl lid.

“Well, that was eventful,” Klaus put his elbows on his knees, _Goodbye_ holding his head and _Hello_ rubbing along his chest again.

“You keep doing that, what’s up? What’s wrong with your side?” Ben questioned.

“I didn’t know I was doing anything,” Klaus said, taking notice of the action for the first time that night. He sat up and pulled his shirt over his head, raising his left arm up slightly to get a better look. Along the side of his chest into his armpit and partially down his stomach, a red and scaly rash had formed. It looked angry where he had been scratching at it.

“Well, that’s new,” Klaus coughed out before he started scratching at it again.

“Stop messing with it,” Ben reached his hands, and though he couldn’t bat his brother’s hands away, the motion had the desired affect of making Klaus stop. “Are you breathing ok? Does your chest feel tight?” Ben asked, concern actually leaking through, worried the meds his brother was taking could be causing some kind of reaction.

“Yeah, no, I’m fine. I mean,” Klaus started coughing into his hand, dropping his arms back down onto his chest. “It’s not any harder than it was earlier. It’s probably just some dry skin, I’ll put on some lotion and it’ll be fine. Now, unless you want to see the whole package, I’d suggest you find someone else to mother,” Klaus said, waving both hands in a shooing motion to get Ben to get out.

“Fine, but yell if you start dying or something,” Ben said, seeming to have met his tolerance of bullshit for the day, but did send one last concerned look at his brother before fading out of the room.

To be fair, Klaus wasn’t feeling the best about all of this either. He thought clean, sober living was supposed to feel good. Instead, he just seemed to be feeling worse as the days went on. The first month had been spent in a haze filled with vomiting, shaking and cravings. He’d been moodier than usually after the withdrawals went away and his family seemed to be walking on eggshells around him, not wanting to set him off. And now, it just felt like he’s always been sick. It almost seemed like it was worth being high again, if to only to feel like himself again.

Pushing the negative thoughts from his mind, Klaus stood up and started drawing the bath, making the water cooler than he would normally like as he suddenly felt hotter than before.

Fevers were a bitch.

He lounged in the water for a while, dozing off briefly and waking up when his head slipped briefly into the water. He sat up and coughed before he finished up and got out, wrapping himself in a towel before he looked in the foggy mirror. Honestly, he was surprised that his siblings weren’t asking him more questions. In the three months since the not-so-end of the world, he’d lost what little weight he had. His cheeks were gaunt, eyes sunken and his skin was pale.

He left the bathroom, and shut himself in his room before his siblings could see him and the ribs that were making an appearance through his skin. Ben glanced up from his spot in his desk chair as Klaus put on some underwear, still feeling warm. He pumped some lotion into his hand from his desk and rubbed it on his side, sighing.

“You should take your second antibiotic. And you could probably take some of the fever reducers we got.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Klaus said, reaching over to get the bag. He opened the fever reducers and downed two dry. He took out the monstrous pill from the doctor, and used an old water bottle to choke it down. “Will you make sure I’m awake before Five leaves in the morning?”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Ben questioned, turning to look at Klaus more fully. “You could just rest tomorrow; I know you aren’t feeling all that great anyway.”

And Ben wasn’t wrong. Klaus’ chest was as sore as it had been the last time he’d broken a rib, chest muscles pulled tight and trembling with each cough. His head was still throbbing, though now he felt fuzzier than anything else. Not to mention whatever was wrong with his side was both burning and itching despite the lotion.

“Well, we can’t let Fivey have all the fun, can we? And the way he looked at me at dinner, I don’t want to see what he’d try to do to me if I didn’t go with him. Just wake me up to spare me the fate of an angry, tiny assassin.”

He laid down then, and closed his eyes.

Despite his nap, he was asleep immediately.

\---

Klaus’ eyes slammed open and he sat up with a mighty gasp before his breath got caught in his chest, bending him over to his knees as he coughed uncontrollably. His vision started whiting out as he gasped for air, vaguely hearing Ben coaching him to calm down on his left. After a moment, the coughs stopped and Klaus sat there panting.

“Klaus? Are you alright?” Ben asked, “that was some wake up.”

Klaus stayed silent for a moment, and just breathed. The nightmare had to be from the fever, ghosts blending together, all screaming and reaching and tearing –

Best not to think about it.

He looked up, glancing at his brother before looking outside and seeing the beginnings of sunrise.

“Just a nightmare, Benny, you know how it is. Ghosty’s always having to have their voices heard.”

“I don’t think Five have left his room yet, you can lay back down if you want,” Ben looked hopeful, but they both knew it wasn’t going to happen.

“No, Benny, I think it’s time to get up. My throats killing me anyway, if I’m lucky I can go find that tea that Allison had yesterday.”

As he said that, Klaus stood up, taking a moment to let his head get used to the new altitude before he looked for more clothes. He went into his closet, pulling out some leggings with pockets (and wasn’t that just _nifty_ ) and a long-sleeved shirt, thin and soft from years of use.

“She’d probably make you some, if you tell her how bad you feel. Or hell, here’s a thought, you could tell any of them that your sick. Get all that attention you always seem desperate for,” Ben said, trying the new tactic of angry desperation to get Klaus to listen to him.

“I’ve got drugs now Ben, what more do you want?” Klaus asked, pulling his leggings on slowly and trying to keep his balance. “There’s nothing they could do anyway, and I’ll be fine in a few days. No need to make a big deal over it.” Klaus stood, blinking the dots that had appeared as he had bent over to slip his legs into his pants out of his eyes, scratching absently at the rash at his side.

“Fine, but don’t complain to me when you pass out in the bathtub and drown. And stop messing with that, scratching it isn’t going to make it go away,” Ben said, glaring at Klaus’ hand.

Klaus huffed, dropping his hand before sliding into his shirt. It had been some ex’s that he had stolen years ago, tie-dyed and covered in skulls; about two sizes too large meaning it covered his hands. He put on some old, cracked boots from the floor of his closet before he went to his mirror and smudged on some eyeliner, all but hiding the dark bags under his eyes in the process. He palmed some more antibiotics into his hand, grabbing the old water bottle again and downing the whole thing as he took the pills. He grabbed the pack of cigarettes that he had put on his desk yesterday afternoon along with his six dollars before leaving his room.

When he opened his door, Klaus looked down the hallway. Luther, Allison and Five’s doors were closed, meaning they were either asleep (or doing god knows what, in Five’s case). Vanya no longer stayed in the room beside Klaus, opting to take a fully intact room elsewhere in the manor. And to be fair, she still had her apartment, so she was probably there. Same for Number Two, though his door was also closed, so it was impossible to tell if he had come back after nightly audition for Batman.

Klaus slowly made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, light slowly coming in through the windows as the day got started. He started on the tea that he knew that Allison had made the previous morning, putting the kettle full of water on the stove top. He started making some toast and waited for it to finish cooking, slowly blinking his eyes.

He was broken out of his daze with the toast popping up, startling. As he worked to put it on a plate, the kettle started screeching, startling him again. He grabbed it with bare hands, cursing at it burned him. Suddenly, an oven mitt covered hands shot out, moving the kettle from the burner before grabbing Klaus’ wrists and putting him under cold water at the sink.

Klaus looked up, and saw Allison’s concerned and slightly annoyed face looking between his hands and his face. He smiled sheepishly.

“To be fair, I was just trying to have some breakfast,” Klaus said, voice raspy and rough.

Allison raised an eyebrow at her brother before turning off the water and looking at his hands. Seeing that they were just red, she guided him to a seat at the table, placing his plate of toast in front of him before grabbing the butter and a jar of jelly from the fridge and putting them on the table before going back to the kettle.

“Seems like she’s going to mother you whether you want it or not,” Ben smirked from beside him. Klaus hissed at him and then suddenly Allison was back, placing a cup of tea that was working to steep in from of him along with a knife and squeezy bear half full of honey still. She grabbed her own cup before going around the table to sit on the opposite side of him.

“Well, sissy, fancy seeing you here! It seems like it was just yesterday we did something just like this! And thank you so much, for the kind service,” Klaus turned his mouth into his shoulder to cough shortly, clearing his throat.

Allison looked fondly at him, concern only showing by the way her eyebrows drew together briefly at the sound his chest made when he coughed.

“That cold seems to be hitting you pretty hard,” Allison rasped, taking a drink of her own teach afterwards with a slight grimace.

“Oh Allie, it’s like I said, bugs just hit me a bit harder now is all,” he took a drink of his tea, letting the honey soothe his throat before taking a bit of toast he’d covered in butter. Allison nodded, and they sat there in silence, drinking tea and nibbling on toast with Klaus coughing lightly into his fist every few minutes. The calm morning was broken a moment later as Five popped into the room, startling Klaus into a coughing fight when the tea he had been drinking went down the wrong pipe.

“Good, you’re up,” Five said, glancing between both of them as Klaus got his breathing under control again. “I want to get going before the stores get too busy. Vanya says she’s meeting us here.”

As if by magic, they could hear the front door open and Vanya appeared in the doorway, carrying two coffees.

“Thank you, Vanya,” Five said, popping over beside their smallest sister to take one of the large coffees from her hands before seemingly chugging it.

Vanya jumped at the sudden appearance of Five, before smiling in Klaus and Allison’s direction, “Good morning, guys. Klaus, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you awake this early willingly.”

“Oh, you know me Vanya, any chance I can get to bond with my wayward family,” Klaus smiled, drinking the rest of his tea with a flourish.

“Yeah, well, I think this is the best attendance we’re going to get. I don’t think Luther will leave the house, and Diego just got in. So, if you two are done,” and with that Five popped out of the room.

“Well, isn’t he just rearing to go,” Klaus said under his breath, before standing to and walking to the foray with his sisters. Five was standing at the door, impatiently waiting for them. After some discussion on driver (“Vanya, give me your keys.” “Five, you’re not driving my car.”), they were off, Vanya driving with Five in the passenger seat, leaving Allison and Klaus (and Ben) in the back.

Following a car ride filled with petty squabbles (“Vanya, change the radio channel.” “Some of us have already grown up into big boys, Five, move your seat.” “Shut up, Klaus, no one wants to hear you sing. You don’t even have a voice!”), the siblings made it to a large shopping center with only a few cars parked outside of the stores.

“We need to get some phones for me, Klaus, Diego and Luther. We’ll start at the tech store, come on,” Five actually walked with them to the store like a normal person. A bored shop clerk greeted them before going back to their magazine, leaving them to browse in peace. A few ghosts were hanging around, but it seemed that not a lot of people die looking for new printers. Allison led them further into the store, where prepaid cell phones were hanging on hooks. Prices were displayed above them, showing 35, 40 dollars and plans ranging in the same prices for a month’s amount of data. Klaus gulped.

“Yeah, man, this is a great idea and all but, uh, I didn’t bring enough cash with me,” Klaus said, avoiding eye contact with his living siblings.

Ben narrowed his eyes, looking suspicious, “I told you yesterday what we were doing, what do you mean you don’t have enough money?”

“Klaus, it’s fine,” Vanya spoke up before Five could keep ranting, “I don’t have to pay for one anyway, so it’s fine,” she smiled kindly before grabbing up a pink (!!!) flip phone and some prepaid minutes. Five grabbed his own phone before Allison grabbed two identical black flip phones for Luther and Diego. They walked to the counter, Five, Vanya and Allison making the purchases before they left the store.

“Now, I need to pick up some new clothes,” Five said, looking down at his schoolboy shorts, knee high socks and Oxfords.

“Oh, shopping trip, shopping trip!” Klaus started jumping up and down before he had to stop and cough, wetly choking into his elbow as his siblings watched.

“Maybe we should head home,” Vanya said, rubbing Klaus’ back as he worked to get his breathing under control, Allison nodding beside of her in agreement. Five watched on, waiting to see his brother’s response.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Klaus panted out after he caught his breath, “Just the change in temperature. Besides, I want to be there when Five has his makeover!”

After some hesitation and a moment to let Klaus just breath for a moment, before walking down the front of the strip mall into a discount store.

Klaus made a beeline to the women’s section before Vanya gently took his arm, as they followed Five into the boy’s section.

“If any of you mention anything, I will kill you slowly,” Five said, holding Klaus’ glance the longest.

Klaus barely heard him, too excited as he grabbed some button up shirts, t-shirts, pants and shorts hanging all around them. To his sibling’s surprise, Klaus picked well, only grabbing things that would make Five look like the old man his family knew he was.

They took some of their prizes to the back as Five tried on his options. Allison went back to stop the store clerks from calling the police due to child neglect (ha!), leaving Vanya and Klaus on their own.

“How’re you doing Klaus? I feel like we haven’t talked in a while,” Vanya said, glancing over at him as he looked at a rack of tu-tu’s hanging in the girl’s clothes. He had been unable to get Five to try one on.

“Oh, you know me, I’m just dandy,” Klaus said breathily, with black slowly entering his vision. Ben was watching him as he stood there. “What have you been up to?”

Vanya started talking, but Klaus wasn’t quite listening. A ringing had been growing in his ears, and heat was now radiating from him. He could feel himself swaying in place, unable to really grasp what was happening.

“Klaus?”

Vanya’s voice brought him out of his stupor and he jumped, knocking in the rack of clothing.

“I’m sorry, I –” but he was unable to continue as his breath caught and he started coughing. Vanya took his arm and started walking him somewhere. He didn’t know where he was going, but Klaus trusted his sister not to run him into any walls. He felt an atmosphere change that meant they were outside before Vanya was placing him on a bench to sit down. They sat there in silence for a moment as Klaus caught his breath.

“I’m so sorry about that, Vanie, I just got a bit warm in there, didn’t know what came over me,” Klaus said roughly, glancing at his sister as Ben looked on from over her shoulder.

“That sounds really bad, Klaus, maybe you should go to a doctor. I can drive you to one today if you want,” Her concern for him, the brother that had taken from her for years, was too much, and he found that he couldn’t make himself lie again.

“I, uh, actually went to the doctor yesterday. They gave me some meds, and I should be right as rain before you know it. It’s just a chest infection that got a bit out of control, that’s all.”

“Are you sure, because –” but that was all she had time to say before Five’s voice could be heard behind them.

“Please, Vanya, I’m fine. I’ll tell you if anything happens,” he pleaded to her. Vanya looked a little hesitant before nodding and glancing up at her siblings.

“Hey guys, sorry, we wanted to get some fresh air,” she said with a small smile. “Did you get everything that you need?”

“Yeah, we should be all set,” Five said, but his eyes stayed on Klaus like he knew what was happening. “Are you two ready to go?”

“Yeah, we can head back,” Vanya stood and waited for Klaus before they all started walking back to her old car.

The ride back was much quieter, but that could simply be because Klaus was too tired to cause any problems. When they got back, they walked through the door, Five popping off with his new clothes, while Allison, Vanya and Klaus walked into the kitchen. Luther and Diego were sitting in silence eating when they walked in.

“We got you guys phones, you’re in charge of setting them up,” Allison rasped at them before she got some water and brought it to Klaus, who had sat down with his head in his hands. Really, she was just a gem.

“Thanks, Allison,” Luther said, looking up at her while Diego nodded and kept eating. For some reason, that got the two to start bickering as the phone started to ring. Vanya went over to answer it herself.

“Klaus?”

The man in question could hardly hear his sister over the two meatheads beside him (honestly, they were worse than the ghosts), but he glanced up as his sister motioned for him to come over with the phone. He stood up and sauntered over to hide his swaying.

“It’s for you,” she said, “some clinic?”  
Klaus thanked her with a smile for speaking into the headset.

“Hi, this is Phyllis with Dr. Profit’s office, do you have a moment?”


	4. Act I Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The doctor had the diagnosis,  
> And Klaus couldn't breathe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> READ THIS!
> 
> I have some extra trigger warnings at the end of this chapter. This chapter will include the diagnosis of a serious illness, and I want to make sure that anyone who could be triggered by this are able to go into the story aware. It will give away the mystery aspect, so follow your own discretion! Please, consider your mental health before reading this story!
> 
> We have some Sad Boi hours in this chapter, but don't worry I promise I will eventually get us to some comfort -- we just have to work for it.
> 
> Enjoy!

A crash coming from the kitchen is what woke Klaus from the nap he had been having on one of the sofa’s in the sitting room. The fire that had been started in the fireplace when he first fell asleep was nothing but embers and someone had taken the time to cover him with a blanket. He’d gone to sleep just after breakfast following another night of restless sleeping, and it seems that when his siblings had wondered down for food, they had found him knocked out. Klaus looked over at a nearby clock and saw it was just after 11 in the morning. Oh well, at least he’d finally gotten some decent sleep.

It had been two days since the shopping trip with his family and the follow-up call with the free clinic. He’d been told that he’d need to come in again to talk with the doctor about his test results, and since then it seemed that the usual small amount of sleep he was able to find at night had been even harder to grasp than usual. He didn’t know way, whether it was because of the medication he had been on to clear up the pneumonia or the fluctuations that kept coming to his temperature, but sleep was getting harder to hold onto. It was no wonder he was falling asleep in any comfortable spot.

Klaus sat up, coughing a bit into his elbow as he placed his feet on the floor beside of him, rubbing his face to wake himself up as Five blinked into the room.

“Oh good, your awake. Your snoring was shaking the whole house,” he said climbing into one of the armchairs opposite the couch, sipping on what was likely _not_ his first cup of coffee that morning. When Klaus looked up, he was surprised to see that his brother had brought in a glass of water and set it on the coffee table in front of him and wouldn’t look at Klaus, not acknowledging the act of kindness.

“Good to know I’m still bringing notice to myself even in slumber,” Klaus said, clearing his throat before drinking half the glass in one go.

“Did you ever considering sleeping at night? Or in a bed?”

“Oh, you’re one to talk, you little menace! With the amount of coffee you drink, I’d be surprised if you can close your eyes longer to blink,” Klaus stretched his arms over his head, then scratched at his side, the rash he had noticed days ago having grown.

Five continued to watch him over the rim of his mug, “So, why haven’t you been sleeping?”

“Oh, Five, you know how it is. Ghosts start screaming, cravings start, gotta find something to keep my mind occupied. Now, what was that crashing coming from the kitchen, did you find some enemy to kill? Or did the coffee maker talk back?”

The change of topic worked, but the look of slight suspicion in his youngest/oldest brothers eye stayed the same, “No, it seems that Luther has decided to cook dinner for everyone tonight. God only knows why he thinks that’s a good idea.”

“Oh, how fancy! I must go see what’s on the menu,” and with that, Klaus took his chance to leave the room and the assassins ever watchful eye.

“You could just tell him what’s going on,” Ben said, as he glided beside his brother.

“I don’t even know what’s going on. It’s not like they don’t know that I’ve been sick, what else am I supposed to tell them? I should at least figure it out for myself first,” Klaus argued, before walking in to see his largest brother with a lost look on his face, gazing at an array of ingredients.

“Hey, big guy! You look mighty busy, what are you making?” Klaus said, jumping up onto the counter beside Luther and sitting on the counter.

“Klaus, hey. I’m trying to plan dinner for tonight,” Luther said, still looking at all the food he had set out, but now with a faint blush on his cheeks. “I, uh, was hoping to have a little family dinner tonight. I was hoping you’d want to come?”

Since finally accepting what Reginald did to all of them was in fact abusive and that him being “Number One” didn’t in fact mean he was better than all of them, Luther had made an effort to treat his siblings better. And while he still had a long way to go, that didn’t stop him from trying to find ways for the family to bond that wasn’t sparring or yelling at each other.

“Look at you! Learning to cook for us and everything!” Klaus said, smiling widely at his brother, who peaked at him sheepishly. “I’m sure it’s going to be great. I’ll for sure be here tonight! We could even do a movie night after!” he started clapping, beaming at Luther as the larger man turned his way, gaining a little confidence as he saw his sibling actually excited at the prospect of family dinner.

“I could actually use your help if that’s ok? Like setting up and stuff. I don’t know if I can get everything ready and make the food. Do you think you could do that for me? And get everyone together on time?” Luther asked, working to include the brother he’d been so standoffish to for the past 20 years. And, he wasn’t lying, he really could use the help.

Klaus brightened at the prospect of being asked to help, “Of course, buddy! A dinner party sounds like a great time! I have some plans that I’ll have to leave for now, but I’ll be back by tonight and I’ll help you then!”

“Alright, thanks Klaus. I’ll see you then,” Luther smiled at him as Klaus hopping off the counter and waved, walking toward the front door.

“Maybe you could find Diego upstairs, get a ride to the clinic? It’s getting cold and its not like you’re feeling much better,” Ben followed after his brother, watching as he put on some heeled boots before grabbing his coat and putting it over his deep, black v-neck shirt.

“I could, but if I don’t find him and have to walk, I’ll be late. Plus, he’d only ask questions. I’ll tell him when I’m ready to tell everyone else. Besides, fresh airs supposed to be good for you.”

He walked out the door, coughing roughly into his fist at the sudden change of temperature. Klaus started walking down the sidewalk, dodging the few people who were also walking down the street. Now that he no longer had a high fever, it seemed that the ghosts had come out to play. He bobbed and weaved along the sidewalk, dodging ghosts and the living alike, coughing into his elbow periodically. When he finally made it to the clinic close to half an hour later, he had some time to spare. He pulled a cigarette out of his slowly dwindling pack from the pocket of his skinny jeans. There were so few that he had been able to fit a lighter in the pack with them. It wasn’t like he had any spare cash to spend on them anyway. He coughed out some smoke as he exhaled.

“Seriously? You literally have pneumonia, smoking isn’t really the smartest idea,” Ben glared at him as Klaus leaned against the front of the clinic, taking shallow drags.

“Ben, I’m not sure if you’ve realized this, but none of my ideas are good. I only have a few of these left anyway, so you won’t have to nag me about them for long,” he continued to breathe in the smoke until there was nothing but a bright coal that he put out under the heel of his boot. “Well, might as well get this over with.”

Klaus walked to the front door, holding it open for Ben before walking in himself. Just like it had been days before, the lobby was filled to the brim with people looking for medical help. Parents holding sickly children in their laps, a man with some sort of wound on his arm that he was holding a dish towel to, some homeless looking teen who was dozing off in the corner and of course, what waiting room was complete without a crying baby. And maybe it was because of the time of day, or the fact that he wasn’t as sick, but Klaus saw some ghosts in the room he hadn’t seen before. A skinny woman who looked like she hadn’t eaten a real meal in days, a man with blood soaking what was once a white shirt, a child with blood running into his eye. The sight looked just as sad as it had just days ago.

Klaus walked up to the front of the room, slightly hesitant of the matronly woman sitting behind the glass of the check-in area.

“Hi, um, I was told to come back to get some test results?”

The woman sighed without even looking up from her computer, only turning slightly toward Klaus so he knew she was listening to him. She was a stoutly built woman, with short, curly brown hair and rectangular glasses. He was able to catch a glimpse at her name tag, which read the name Phyllis.

“What’s the name?” she said, continuing to type.

He gave it to her, and she sat silently for a moment more, pecking at her keyboard without a comment. Right when Klaus was getting worried that she had forgotten about him, she looked at him over her glasses and started speaking again.

“Its not often that we actually have appointments. I’m going to buzz that door on your right open. Just walk on through and I’ll meet you on the other side.” She waited for his nod before she pressed a button, causing the door to buzz and unlock. Klaus walked through it, meeting with Phyllis who had stood up to meet him.

“Just follow me, Dr. Profit said to take you to his office when you got here.”

They walked through the narrow halls of the clinic before Phyllis opened the door to what had to have been a broom closet at one time. A small desk was pushed up by the wall, and one chair was in front of it. A couple of certificates hung on the wall behind the desk.

“You can sit in that chair; Dr. Profit is seeing another patient at the moment but I’ll tell him you’re here to see him.”

With that, she left, closing the door behind her and leaving Klaus in the somewhat claustrophobia inducing room. The inside of it had the faint smell of bleach, one light bulb illuminating it, making everything a slight shade of yellow. The walls had at one time been white, but had gotten grimy with time and many of the ceiling tiles had gotten discolored with water at some point. The desk had obviously seen some wear, with scratches all across the top and a mostly likely second-hand computer sitting on top of it. Papers and folders littered the open spaces.

“This is cozy,” Klaus said, gracefully sitting in the stiff chair as Ben took a seat on the side of the desk in front of him. “Who in their right mind would actually trust us in such a room.”

Ben looked around before glancing at his brother, “To be fair, I don’t think they’re much you could really steal.”

Before Klaus could respond, the door opened again and Dr. Profit walked into the room.

“Mr. Hargreeves –”

“Please, just Klaus. _Mr. Hargreeves_ makes me feel like my dear old dad is in the room, and we really don’t want that,” Klaus interrupted with a sharp smile.

The doctor smiled, unphased, walking around the desk to sit in the chair set up behind it, “Klaus, then. Thank you for meeting with me now, I have a brief break at this point in the day wanted to go over the results we got back from your blood tests.”

“No problem, Doc, I didn’t have anything planned,” Klaus coughed into his wrist briefly before smiling again. “Still got the cough, but those meds seem to be helping.”

“That’s good, I’m glad to hear it. Do you mind if I take a listen?” He asked, pulling off the stethoscope he had hanging around the back of his neck.

“Go right ahead,” Klaus sat up as the doctor came around the desk, walking through Ben as he put the ear pieces in.

He listened, telling Klaus to breathe periodically and moving the instrument around his chest and back pausing every once and a while to allow him to cough.

“Well, the congestion is still there, but your breathing does sound better. How has the fever been?”

“No more fever! I’m feeling stronger every day,” Klaus smiled, downplaying the situation. Ben scowled at him and raised an eyebrow. Klaus glanced at his brother before amending, “Well, maybe not completely gone away, but its lower now. Just some night sweats, nothing too serious.”

Dr. Profit nodded, “Ok, so a bit of a fever still; anything else bothering you?”

Klaus opened his mouth and before he could say anything, he saw Ben, motioning to his side and looking a him with wide eyes.

“Oh! I have some kind of, uh, thing? On my side? It’s been a bit itchy?” Mentioning it brought the problem back to the forefront of Klaus’ mind, and he scratched at it under his coat and through his shirt.

“Would you be alright removing your coat and lifting your shirt? I’d like to take a look if that’s alright,” the doctor’s eyebrows had met in the middle.

Klaus agreed and stood up, shucking his coat off and putting it on the back of his chair before lifting his shirt up to his armpit, rash standing out bright red on his pale skin. What had started out as a patch of red, scaley skin was now a patch of nodules and bumps. Some of them had little scabs on them from where Klaus had raked his nails against them. The doctor pulled on some gloves from a box that was sitting on his desk before he started feeling around the area, humming to himself.

“So, what this looks like to me is prurigo nodularis. It could have started as dry skin, and because you scratched it, those bumps have formed. I’m not worried about infection, because you’re already on antibiotics, but we do need to clear this up if we want it to heal. I have some samples of some creams you should use, to make sure it heals. And of course, you need to stop scratching it completely for it to go away.”

After giving his explanation, Dr. Profit walked around the back of his desk and sat down in his chair as Klaus pulled down his shirt again and got comfortable.

“Now, this rash and the aggressive pneumonia most likely caused by an underlying issue. When you came in, your symptoms worried me especially considering your past history with intravenous drugs that you spoke of during your visit,” he paused at that point, pulling out a paper from one of the many folders on his desk. “Klaus, when we took blood, I had it tested for HIV. And that test came back positive.”

The world faded out.

There was no sound and Klaus could no longer see anything. It was as if the world had paused around him. All he could see was every needle he had used. He rarely shared, but he couldn’t lie. There were times when he had been desperate enough to take someone’s needle, use one that had seemingly miraculously come to him by way of some shady dealer or another. And he might not have been the best student, but he knew how people got HIV. He didn’t always have a condom, and neither did the people he would choose to hook up with. It wasn’t typically the thing that would come to mind, more worried about getting off or getting a bed for a night. It could have happened at any time, with anyone.

He felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“Klaus!” Ben’s voice suddenly broke through the quite hum that had taken up residence in his head. And it seemed that he had been holding his breath the entire time he had been frozen.

He took in a gasping breath, which caught in his chest, leading to a coughing spell. Once he called down, he startled when he felt the other (living) mans hand on his shoulder.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m, uh, I’m fine. Wh-what were you saying?” Klaus said, gaining his breath and composure, but still unable to look his brother in the eye.

“Right. Well, I was saying that this isn’t a death sentence. There have been massive strides in the research done within the last several years, and I’m certain we can find the right cocktail of medications for you to live a long and healthy life. Now, we did find that you were in phase two of the disease. Your CD4 is sitting in the lower end of the 300’s, and normally we should see numbers between 500 and 1,600. Your viral load is sitting pretty high at the moment. Because you’ve already experienced some secondary infections and symptoms due to the virus, I believe it would be best if we start by treating this aggressively. I want to start you on a mix of Viread, Cambivir and Norvir. That’s three strong antivirals that should help lower your viral load and stop your CD4 from dropping further. Do you have any questions so far?”

The information overload was making Klaus’ head spin. He had finally braved a glance at Ben, only to see that his brother was staring wide-eyed at the floor. So, looks like he was actually on his own for this one. Go figure.

“Yeah, is there a way to know how long I’ve had this?”

“Well,” Dr. Profit leaned back in his chair, “there’s no real way to know. It could have been a few months ago, but most likely that you’ve be asymptomatic for a few years. I’m not going to lie to you here, you might have even been symptomatic at some point in the past couple of years but didn’t know because of your addiction. Thankfully, your clean and we can work on bringing your health up to par now.”

Klaus just sat there, trying to remember all people he had slept with over the years, all the times he’d pass a needle to someone else. And god _Dave._ He felt nauseous.

“So, what happens now?” he asked numbly.

“For today, I’ll write you all the prescriptions to the antivirals and you can get that filled. I suggest starting that medication as soon as you can. Once you start them, you must continue to take them everyday in order for them to work effectively. That means you can’t even miss one dose. Unfortunately, because this is a free clinic, you will have to continue getting your medication from another doctor. I do have some information on a clinic not too far from here that can help. They specialize with HIV and AIDS patients, and should be able to help you cover some of the costs that’s going to come from this diagnosis. I’ll give you the address along with some samples of a steroid cream and bandages to put on that rash to make it go away and stop any possible infection. I’d also suggest getting some vitamins if you can help it.”

Klaus nodded along, but it was becoming harder and harder to follow along with what was happening. He watched as Dr. Profit stood up, and vaguely heard him say he was going to grab the samples before he was boxed in again with his brother.

“What the fuck,” Klaus whispered, still looking blankly in front of him. “What the fuck, am I going to do?”

Ben seemed to have broken out of his own trance, and started kneeling beside the chair, “Hey, man, we’ll figure this out. You’ll be fine. All you have to do is listen to the doctor and do what he says, no big deal.”

“How am I supposed to listen when I don’t have anything to buy this shit with,” Klaus gripped his hair in his hands and pulled, trying to center himself. “I mean, I wouldn’t even be able to get the damn vitamins.”

Ben gave him a look before he straightened up a bit, “Klaus, one of the others will pay for the meds, what are you –” but he was drowned out by the doctor walking back in with a plastic bag hanging from his arm.

“This is everything we have left. If it gets any worse, either come back here or if you can, make an appointment with that other clinic. I’m going to put all that information that you should need in the bag as well.”

With that, Dr. Profit folded all the papers and placed them in the bag. He also handed over all three prescription’s he had written out before holding his hand out, “I’m really sorry about the news, Klaus. But I promise, this is manageable. If you need anything else, just call.”

Klaus stood up and shook his hand, before pulling on his coat and following the older man down the halls and back into the lobby in a haze. He walked through without seeing anyone, alive or otherwise, before going through the front doors and into the cooling outdoors. He stood out there like he had just half an hour ago, but with a completely different mindset.

Ben glanced at him before he spoke up, “What’s the plan now?”

“Now, brother dearest,” Klaus said, coming back to himself after another moments pause, “we make another trip to the pharmacy.”

The two brothers walked into the same CVS they had graced just days before. Klaus coughed harshly into his elbow when he walked in, gaining the attention of some other patrons. And while he usually didn’t mind the attention, reveled in it really, he wasn’t paying attention.

Klaus finally made it to the pharmacy, where he handed over the prescriptions, “Hi, quick question, do you know how much it’ll be if I get all of these filled today?”

A bored looking woman took the small pieces of paper from him before answering, “Let me bring it back to the pharmacist, just go to the question window and she’ll be right there.”

Klaus walked over and leaned into the counter, waiting.

“Why didn’t you call someone? You have like, 6 bucks, you know you aren’t going to be able to pay for anything,” Ben said, leaning into his brother’s personal space, which _rude_.

“Well, dear Benjamin, I don’t think our siblings would take kindly to me asking them for money for drugs of all things,” Klaus said, acting casual and staring at his chipped nail polish.

“Then tell them what’s going on, that this isn’t for anything illegal, that your sick!” Ben exclaimed, trying to catch his eye. “This is serious. You have to tell them what’s going on.”

Klaus turned his head sharply, “I don’t _have_ to do anything.”

Before anything else could be said, a woman in a white lab coat was in front of them.

According to her, the medications were expensive, which he could have guessed. But even staying away from name brand and getting the generics meant spending hundreds of dollars.

“Is it possible for me to come and pick these up in a couple of hours, maybe?” Klaus asked, ignoring the looks that Ben had continued to shoot his way.

“I can work on filling it now, and you can pick it up once you have time. You should have a couple of days, if you need it.”

“I should be back here sooner than that, thank you,” he gave a strained smile before leaving his brand-new cell phone number and turning around the walk out of the store.

He walked in silence for a while, making his way down the sidewalk as he formed a plan in his mind, coughing into his wrist.

“Klaus, just call someone, get a ride. There’s no reason for you to still be out here.”

“No need for a ride, Benny, I’m making my way back to the manor, there’s not much longer to go now anyway. I thought you’d be proud, we’re saving the environment after all,” Klaus smirked as he mumbled under his breath, trying to walk quickly without running out of breath.

“That’s not really what I’m worried about right now, dude. Stop being a smartass.”

“But I’m so good at it!” Klaus said at full volume, scaring a woman walking in his direction and earning some stares as he kept walking.

They finally made it back to the manor a short while later. Klaus had stopped listening to Ben and instead starting walking through him when his brother kept getting in front of him to try and make him talk. By the time they got to the front doors of the manor, Ben had given up and was just walking (or in Klaus’ opinion _moping_ ) beside of him. He walked quietly into the house, hearing some sound distantly. He hung his goody bag on a hook hear the door under a jacket so no one would see it, before he walked almost silently further into the house.

“Klaus, you live here, why the hell are you sneaking around,” Ben questioned.

“Because, I don’t really want to be asked what I’m doing at the moment, Bennifer.” Klaus whispered at him. “I’m hoping to grab and go – just like the good old days, buddy!”

“Klaus, you don’t need to steal! Dad’s estate made everyone flush with cash, just tell them what’s happening. Hell, call Vanya, she already knew you were sick!” Ben said, trying to talk some sense into him.

“There is absolutely no need to get anyone else involved! I’ll just grab some of the old man’s things, it’s not like he’s using them anyway. Hell, he cut me out of the will, this is the least he can do! I’m just going to grab some shit, run out the door, hock it somewhere and we’ll be golden, baby,” Klaus kept mumbling as he walked into his father’s office. It hadn’t changed much, almost like it was the last shrine to their dear old dad. Luther had come in a few times, and he was sure Pogo and Grace had also seen to the room, but the rest of their siblings hadn’t wanted to look through it. Five had taken the notes that had been left behind soon after the “apoca-not” was called off, and that was that.

Klaus started rummaging around the desk and bookshelves, looking for anything he had missed when he first returned home following the old man’s death a few months ago. Ben was staring at him, with a grimace on his face.

“I’m not going to help you with this, you’re on your own,” Ben said, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

“Well, it’s not like you could hold anything for me, Casper. I think I can figure this out for myself,” Klaus smiled, showing all of his teeth before continuing, sticking odds and ends into his pockets.

He’d just finished stuff some dumb looking paperweight into his coat when he heard the creak of the office door swinging wide a little more, Number Two walking in.

“Hey, Klaus there you are. Luther was saying you –” Diego stopped as Klaus froze, pockets obviously stuffed and half the paper weight still visible in his hand. “Dude, you have to be shitting me.”

“Diego, listen, this isn’t what it looks like,” Klaus pushed the last of his treasures deeper into his pockets, before lifting his hands up placatingly.

“It looks like your stealing random shit from Hargreeves,” Diego said harshly, but quietly.

“Ok, well, maybe it is what it looks like, but its not for drugs!” Klaus tried to say, taking one step further to his brother.

“You know what man, I don’t care,” Diego said harshly, sidestepping his brother. “I don’t want your fucking excuses. I’m done, Bro. Go sell all that shit, spend it on whatever you want. Seems like that’s what you already did with the other shit from Hargreeves, if you’re already resorting to this again. But listen here,” he finally looked Klaus in his eyes, taking one step closer and getting almost nose to nose with him, “I don’t want to fucking see it. I’m tired of this. If you go out that door with all this, don’t let me see you tonight, cause I can’t promise you’ll like what you get.”

With that, he turned around and walked out of the room. Klaus stayed frozen in this spot, breathing harshly as he watched his brother walk out the door. He stood there a moment longer before he took his first steps out of the room and then out of the house. Ben was silently beside of him as he started walking in the direction of a pawn shop he knew would be open.

“Are you alright?” he finally asked, glancing at Klaus as he cleared his throat.

“That right there, Ben, is why I’m not saying anything. I’ve already put them through enough shit. They already think the worst of me. There’s no point confirming it more. Hell, they’d probably say it’s what I deserve, anyway.”

“Don’t say that!” Ben exclaimed at him, finally losing his cool, “You don’t know what they’ll say! You’re not giving anyone a chance to say anything! Just tell them what’s happening!”

Klaus turned to him, giving Ben his full attention as they faced down on the thankfully empty street, “And wait for them to say what I already know? ‘Oh, you’re a slut, Klaus. Oh, you’re a dope addict, Klaus. Oh, you’re a disappointment, Klaus.’ I’m tired of it! I’m tired of always being the fuck up, I’m tired of being the token family disappointment, but most of all I’m tired of taking everyone’s shit! I’m trying to finally not be the one no one can rely on, so no, I’m not going to tell them I have HIV and have them look at me like I’m –” Klaus started to flounder, his eye’s stinging suspiciously, “—I just can’t deal with their disappointment on top of figuring out how to deal with all of this. Just, give me a bit, and I’ll tell them I promise.”

Klaus look at Ben, pure self-loathing reflecting in the few tears that had collected, and his heart broke.

“Fine, but listen, you’re going to need help at some point. Sooner, rather than later. Just promise me you’ll think of something?”

“Yeah, man,” Klaus started walking again, wiping his eyes with his hand as he coughed into his wrist. “You know me, I’ve always got a plan.”

They continued walking down the street before Klaus found the shop he’d sold some of Reginald’s stuff before. It took some haggling before he’d finally found a price he agreed to, walking out with empty pockets, $500 and a slowly dwindling amount of energy that was falling as fast as the sun was sinking into the sky.

“Well, I think we should have enough now. Might as well make our way back to the pharmacy and lose it all.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” Ben said, eyeing his brother as he started walking, “just keep going, we’ll figure out where to get more later.”

Klaus nodded, put his head down, and kept walking. His pace was slowing gradually, before he was just meandering slowly as he finally made his way into the brightly lit store that had become a beacon in the darkening twilight. He walked to the back, Ben guiding him on what else he should grab. On his way to the pharmacy, he grabbed another bottle of water, some granola bars and the cheapest vitamins the store sold before he made his way to the counter.

He gave his name before the same bored worker as before took his name and went to get his prescriptions. She rang them up before looking at him, “This is a bit much, you have insurance or anything?”

Klaus laughed, “No nothing like that, not so posh I’m afraid.”

“Well man, these meds and everything else is coming out to $457.23.”

Klaus gave a strained smile as he handed over the money, and waited for his change. When his receipt was printed out, the worker paused before grabbing a pen and writing something down.

“I know a lady, who’s looking for some work. It’s not big, just minimum wage, but it could help you pay for this stuff. She doesn’t ask questions or anything, won’t care about your past,” she handed him the small piece of paper before giving him the bagged items.

Klaus grabbed both of them, holding them like they were gold, “Thank you, so much. I- uh. I really appreciate this.”

She nodded before he turned around and walked out of the store. He stopped briefly to drink half of the water bottle in one gulp outside of the electric sliding doors. He gasped when he was done.

“Our future’s looking up, Benny.”

Ben gave him a smile as he started down the sidewalk, a renewed spring in his step. By the time the manor was finally in front of him, it was completely dark outside. He walked in, and could hear the sound of his siblings coming from the sitting room. It seemed that Luther had taken his suggestion. He felt a stab of guilt at that thought, remembering that he was meant to help Luther set up for his family dinner party. It might have been for the best; he didn’t know what Diego could have told them.

He hung his coat on a hook before he grabbed the bag he had gotten from the doctors office earlier in the day. He walked up the steps to his room closing the door before he sat on the floor and spread out every thing he had like a fucked up viewing of Christmas presents.

“You need to eat something, before you take anything. Have one of the granola bars,” Ben instructed, sitting opposite of Klaus on the floor as well.

Klaus listened, eating one of them before taking an antibiotic and swallowing it with some water, following that up with all three of his new meds. He remembered his other problem when he caught himself scratching his chest. He pulled off his shirt, rubbed the gross smelling cream on it and wrapped it with a bandage.

“I think this has been enough excitement for today, my dear Ben.” Klaus gathered everything he had gotten that day into one CVS bag, before shoving it all in an old corner in his closet he used to stash weed when he was a teenager. He then shucked off his boots and jeans before sliding into bed in just his underwear.

He was exhausted, all his muscles already feeling sore from the amount of activity he had done that day, but he couldn’t seem to fall asleep. He stared at the ceiling, silently, alone save for an old ghost that was standing in the corner of his room, Ben having left when he pulled his pants off (again _rude_ ).

He laid there and tried to think of nothing.

But all he could think about was Dave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: HIV diagnosis (added in tags as well; Self-loathing, slut shaming)
> 
> Please don't be mad at Diego! I promise, all these fools gonna talk at some point.


	5. Act I Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting to work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!
> 
> I am so sorry it has taken me so long to update. Life kinda got in the way as well as work and I haven't had time to finish up this chapter until today.
> 
> This is kinda the end of my Act 1 that is this fic. Next chapter will begin Act 2 and with that some new challenges.
> 
> Before anything else, thank you for giving me all of this positive feedback. I was terrified to post this story and now I can't wait to give you guys a new chapter! Hope you all enjoy this one and stay safe and spooky!

If he was asked, Klaus would say he was definitely not avoiding his family. He was exhausted! He’d been walking all around the city, going to the doctor, getting stuff done. He was tired! After his escapades, he spent that next day sleeping on and off. Yesterday was Sunday, so most of his siblings were out, doing what normal people do on the weekend (he was still unclear what that was, but who was he to care?). So, he was able to keep to his room and sneak down every once in a while, to get some food to take his meds with. It was fine, he was just resting, and no one, not even Ben, could convince him otherwise.

It was almost afternoon now, and Klaus was sitting criss-cross-applesauce in the middle of his floor. Since learning he had HIV, Klaus was even more desperate to talk to Dave. He didn’t know what he would say about everything, but this overwhelming sense of guilt that had continued to build since he learned why he was sick was continuing to push him to conjure his long-lost love.

“Are you going to grace our family with your presence sometime today? You’ve run out of food up here, you’re going to have to go downstairs at some point,” Ben said, as he watched his brother sit still for the first time in years.

Klaus sighed heavily, opening his eyes and looking at his brother, “I’m a little busy at the moment, if you can’t tell. Besides, it’s not like anyone really cares where I am, they’re all busy.”

And he wasn’t wrong. Ever since he’d missed the planned family bonding time, everyone had left him to his own devices. He knew Diego hadn’t told anyone that he’d caught him stealing from dad, simply because no one had tried to hold an intervention from him. But, he also knew that Diego was still mad at him because he hadn’t tried to come in his room to make sure he was still alive.

“You’ll need to eat at some point. And you know they won’t just leave you here forever,” Ben said, going back to his book and allowing Klaus to shut him out. But before he could go back to trying to reach his love in the afterlife, someone started knocking at his door. It seemed his alone time was finally being interrupted. Klaus glanced up and shouted at whoever it was to come in, seeing Vanya at the door when it swung open.

“Vanya! My darling sister! To what do I owe this unexpected visit?”

“Hey, Klaus,” Vanya took a couple of steps into his room, looking down at him as he continued to sit on the floor. To be fair, He knew he had to look a little odd on the floor in his leggings and tie-dyed dress, dog-tags sitting prominently in the middle of his chest. Honestly, all of his siblings could take some pointers, he looked _amazing_. “I haven’t seen you in a while, are you doing ok?”

“Well, aren’t you just so thoughtful!” Klaus jumped up, before making his way over to his sister. “I’m doing just fine now, I decided to rest a bit like you suggested, and now I’m feeling just dandy.”

“Well, good,” Vanya said, staring at her hands and glancing around nervously. “I was wondering, do you want to go get some food with me? I’d love to actually see how you’re doing. That is, if you’re not busy.”

“Of course! Just give me a tick, and I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Vanya smiled and walked back out, closing the door behind her. Now no longer in her sight, Klaus let his shoulders collapse forward.

“It looks like we’ll be getting out of the house after all,” Klaus said, turning around to gather up some necessities before meeting his sister.

“What are you getting? I’m sure Vanya will pay for any food, so no need to search through everything,” Ben said, glancing up slightly.

“No, but this would be the perfect time to check out that store the lovely pharmacy clerk told me I could possibly get a job at. And with any luck, Vanya might even drive me to where I need to go,” Klaus continued to tear through his collection of plastic bags before he found the store name and address that were given to him just a few days ago. He grabbed a purse, stuff it along with the rest of his money into it. He turned to his vanity, putting on some eyeliner and lip gloss before pulling on an old pair of combat boots and heading out of his room. And he walked out straight into Number Two.

“Diego! What a surprise,” Klaus smiled at the man, trying to look as unassuming as possible.

“Klaus,” Diego said, stopping his walk down the hallway. He looked his brother up and down, “Haven’t seen you in a while, since you started hiding in your room. Where are you going?”

“Oh, you know, going to have brunch with our darling, littlest sister. Are you just now getting in? You know, Diego, staying up all night is going to give you crow’s feet,” Klaus said, matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, thanks for the warning. You going to be with Vanya the whole time?”

Klaus narrowed his eyes, standing up a bit straighter, “I don’t know, I have some of my own errands to run today. Why? Do you think she’s going to be babysitting me all day?”

“All I’m saying is maybe you shouldn’t be walking around by yourself with the amount of money you probably got from all the shit you hocked last week. Though, you have been up here for a while, so who knows. Just don’t go to wild with Vanya, alright?” Diego said, still trying to give off an air of indifference.

“Wow, Diego, yeah, I’ll make sure not to take our sister on a bender. If that’s what you’re worried about,” with that, Klaus pushed past his brother and walked down to meet his sister. He was half way down the stairs before Vanya looked up and saw him, giving a small smile.

“There you are. You ready to go?”

“Yes, I’m all prettied up and ready to hit the town!” Klaus took the next few steps two at a time before he made it to the same level as Vanya. Diego was standing at the top of the staircase, having followed his lanky brother down the hallway and stopping at the landing.

“Keep an eye on him today, okay Van?” Diego said, crossing his arms as he looked down at the pair.

“Kindly go fuck yourself, Diego,” Klaus smiled, showing all of his teeth, before grabbing Vanya’s hand and pulling both of them outside. He dropped his sister’s hand and started to walk out onto the sidewalk, coughing briefly into a closed fist.

“What’s going on there?” Vanya said, with a nervous smile.

“Oh nothing, just our dear brother sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong,” he cleared his throat before giving Vanya his full attention. “Now where were you wanting to go? I’m famished.”

Vanya gave him an odd look before dropping the issue, “I know this dinner that should still be serving breakfast, I thought we could go there? I’ll drive us.”

“Well, who am I to say no?”

The two walked arm-in-arm to Vanya’s car before making their way to the diner. Klaus spent most of his time fiddling with the radio and singing along to songs he definitely didn’t know any of the words to. They made their way to the little hole in the wall diner, finding a seat in a booth near the window. Both siblings ordered drinks before Vanya seemed to get the confidence to actually talk with Klaus.

“We missed you the other day, Luther said you were going to help him out but never showed. Is everything alright?”

Ben stared at Klaus, trying to get his attention, “Tell her. She already knows you’re sick, all you have to do is tell her what you learned. You can’t keep this a secret forever, you need help!”

“Klaus?” Vanya said, trying to catch his eye as he looks at their ghostly brother sitting beside of her.

“Well, it’s kind of hard to explain –”

“What can I get you two to eat today?” As if his life was a cosmic joke, the waitress was at their table, smiling and ready to help them. They both got their coffee before ordering (Klaus getting waffles and Vanya getting pancakes, and really, the audacity) before they were left alone again, Vanya turning to look at her brother expectantly.

“Um, well, I did have pneumonia there for a while, but it’s getting better! I’ve been taking the medicine the doctor gave me and I’m as fit as a fiddle.” Of course, the universe had already shown that his entire life was nothing but a game for everyone else’s amusement, his lungs took that one moment to betray him. He coughed roughly twice into his elbow before he caught his breath. He took a moment longer to take a drink of coffee, the drink acidity burning slightly, but the warmth helping all the same. “Okay, so that was just bad timing. I really am doing better! Ben has even become my mother and telling me to drink fluids and eat and stuff! And I’ve even been listening to him!”

The concern furrow to her eyebrows was still there, but a smile had taken residence on his face the longer he talked. The same couldn’t be said for Ben, who was definitely giving him one of the most expressive bitch faces he had seen in a while.

“I’m glad someone is making you take care of yourself. I wish you would have told everyone else though. I’m sure no one would have been upset about you missing family bonding if they knew how sick you were,” Vanya said, unknowingly agreeing with Ben’s sentiment in a roundabout way.

“Now, why would I want to do that when I’m all better!” Klaus threw his arms up, just as their waitress came back with their breakfast. Both siblings starting digging in, with Klaus especially grateful after his distinct lack of a warm meal while he definitely _was not_ hiding in his room. Ben took the lull in conversation to berate Klaus.

“What are you going to do when you get sick again, or when your medications make you sick? And it’s almost flu season! You can’t just ignore this and hope it goes away, Klaus,” Ben was pleading at this point, hoping to get his point across as Klaus shoveled food into his mouth.

But Klaus really couldn’t make himself do it. As he watched his little sister (because, honestly? Vanya is the youngest of all of them) neatly cut and eat her pancakes, Klaus couldn’t help but remember all the times he had used her generosity in the past. All of the times that he’d just shown up at her apartment looking for a place to sleep, something to eat and then ending up stealing all the money he could find. He remembers the times he woke up in the hospital after an overdose, turning his head to the side only to see Vanya’s tiny body curled up asleep in a chair.

So no, he didn’t want to burden his sister with another one of his fuck up’s.

“So tell me, darling sister,” Klaus said, half of his waffle now eaten and the other half getting soggy in leftover syrup, “how is your new training going?”

Vanya smiled bigger than he had seen in a while and started talking about the training she’d been having with Five to master he new found powers. It was nice to see this side of her, also free from drugs and showing some actual emotions. He listened to her explain how they were now using sound to center her before she manipulated it to do what she wanted, but his eyes soon drifted to the counter of the diner. A ghost was screaming at the waitress, half of his head caved in as he yelled for more coffee. The waitress, obviously oblivious to what was happening, was going through receipts. He jumped when he felt Vanya gently put her slim hand on his arm.

“Hey, you kinda drifted off there. You alright?”

“Yeah, uh, yeah I’m fine, it’s just,” he glanced behind her again as the ghost started sobbing openly, Vanya’s eyes following him with her eyebrows furrowed, “getting a little crowded in here, if you catch my drift.”

Vanya’s eyebrows shot up and understanding crossed her eyes before she nodded, “I’m already finished, so let me just go up and pay. You can wait outside if you want.”

Klaus sent here a thin-lipped smile before he retreated outside, eyes staying on the floor as he worked to not bring the ghosts attention to him. Plus, he really didn’t need to see Vanya walk through the guy to invade his mind.

He walked outside and took a deep breath of the fresh air, coughing slightly into his fist before pulling his pack out of his bag, lighting one with shaking hands. He closed his eyes as he inhaled the smoke, feeling its warmth before exhaling it into the day. Feeling more centered from the repetitive motion, Klaus opened his eyes to his Ben’s worried face looking at him and his reclined position on the wall of the diner.

“Better?” Ben asked, not even saying anything about smoking while still healing from pneumonia.

“Yeah, just peachy,” Klaus said, slightly out of breath from emotion and smoke in his slightly congested lungs and itching for something harder.

Before he could make any kind of mistake, the door opened and his sister was walking out giving him a small smile when she saw he was still waiting on her. She no doubt remembered the times he had ditched her after such experiences in the past.

“We’re all paid for. You sure you should be smoking after being so sick?”

Klaus laughed, coughing roughly into the underside of his wrist before talking again. “This is better than trying to get some smack from a dealer a couple of blocks away.”

Vanya flinched slightly before she nodded.

“Well, I have to get to practice soon. Do you want me to take you back home?”

“Actually, I do need to go somewhere if it’s not too much trouble?” Klaus took another drag before using his boot to put out the cigarette and searching through his bag once again. He found the name of the store and turned to Vanya. “I’m trying to get to this store? Apparently, they’re looking for some work and won’t mind my more _vivacious_ past.”

Vanya nodded before glancing at the name, recognition shining in her eyes. “That isn’t too far away from here. I can drop you off if you want? Will you be able to get home on your own?”

“Of course! I know these streets like the back of my hand, sister dear. Now, lets go, we don’t want you to be late!”

They both walked to Vanya’s car, climbing in as Vanya started driving to their new destination. “I didn’t know you were looking for a job, Klaus. When did you get the interview?”

“Well, you see, I don’t have an interview, _per say_. I’m just going to see if they are in fact look for an employee and hope I guess.” He laughed nervously, rubbing at the back of his neck and glancing out the window.

“Well, I’m proud that you’re trying. Especially now that you don’t really need to. I’m sure everyone will be really happy to see you working hard to stay clean.”

Klaus scoffed as he watched the buildings speed by, “After last week, not sure they’ll really care or believe me. But, I guess we can hope.”

Tension grew in the car a bit as they both rode on in silence, Vanya unsure what to say and Klaus unwilling to believe that his siblings would think much of him after everything that had happened.

Before long, they were in front of the small thrift store. It wasn’t in the best part of town, but the store itself looked clean and well-kept. Some place Klaus might have used to get out of the cold and rain in a different life.

“Listen, Klaus,” Vanya said, turning to him after she had parked the car. “I know it’s hard to believe that everyone will listen to you after everything. And I can’t promise you that they will. But, I really am proud of you. I’m glad you’re clean, and I believe you.”

Klaus’ eyes stun as he looked at his usually meek sister, surprised by the sudden resolve in her voice and the kind words she was giving him. It had been a while since anyone but Ben had even acknowledged how hard he had been working. And to an extent, he understood. Everyone in his family had their own shit to work through. But it didn’t help that none of them were really willing to help him get through an addiction he had for almost as long as he had been alive.

“Thanks, sis. I really appreciate it,” they hugged awkwardly in the small confines of the car, the armrest digging into Klaus’ side. But at that moment, it was the best hug he had ever felt.

Klaus sat back up, roughly clearing his throat before wiping daintily at his eyes to make sure his eyeliner didn’t run.

“Now, dear sister, I must away. Wish me luck as I try to become a productive member of society!”

“Good luck, Klaus,” Vanya smiled at him, “I’m sure you’ll do great.”

Klaus climbed out of the car and shut the door, waving at Vanya as she drove down the road. Ben stood silently by his side for a moment before he turned to him.

“I know why you haven’t, but I really think you should tell her. Vanya won’t judge you, man. She just wants to help.”

Klaus sighed before he looked over at Ben, “I know. But, why should she have to deal with all this shit just because she’s been nice to me? I’ll figure it out and I’ll tell all of them. Just—give me a bit.”

He took a big breath and cleared his throat before straightening his spine and putting a wide smile on his face.

“Benny, its time we get ourselves a job!”

He didn’t let Ben comment before he turned on his heel and walked into the shop.

Klaus’ first impression was _warm_. Not just the temperature, but the atmosphere as well. The store bled acceptance, pride flags hanging from the walls, posters standing out proudly proclaiming ‘Peace Not War’, and old pictures of protests hanging in frames for everyone to see. He felt himself relax just a bit before a short woman with spikey black hair walked up to the counter that was sitting to the right of the door from a back room.

“Hi, welcome to Pay it No Mind Thrift Shop. How can I help ya?”

Klaus, for someone who never really worried about opinions of him and was typically very much a people person, was surprised that he felt nervous in front of the person he hoped would be his new boss.

“Yes, hello, hi, I’m Klaus. I was told that you were looking for someone to work here? By a woman who, uh, works at a CVS?” As he said the words, he realized how ridiculous he must have sounded. He didn’t even know pharmacy girls name, and here he was trying to what? Use her as a reference? But the lady didn’t turn him away, just crossed her arms and stared him down.

“Alright. So, why are you looking for a job?”

He didn’t know why he did it. Maybe it was because of the emotional heart-to-heart he had just had with Vanya. Maybe it was because of what Ben had been saying. Maybe it was because of the way the black-haired woman’s eyes bore into his. But no matter the reason, Klaus found himself telling the truth, the words tasting like ash on his tongue.

“I found out that I have HIV, and I need a way to pay for the meds. I, uh, don’t have much of a work history. But, I’m clean now, and have a home so I can make my way to work anytime you need me. I just,” Klaus’ voice cracked and he looked down, neck and ears turning red as he expressed his vulnerability, “I really need a way to pay for the meds.”

She looked him up and down, unflinchingly. They stood there in silence for what felt like hours but was more like ten seconds. Klaus kept his eyes down, fiddling with his hands.

“If you work here, you stay clean. No drugs in my shop. If I catch you with drugs, or high, we’ll have a serious problem. You’ll answer to me. My name’s Zo. When can you start Klaus?”

At this, Klaus looked up with surprise coloring his face.

“Don’t look so surprised,” Zo said, leaning her weight on the counter, “Melanie wasn’t lying when she said I need some help. I’m running this place by myself right now, and I need another set of hands to get everything done. Come to the back room with me and we’ll talk specifics.”

Klaus followed the woman, Zo, to the door behind the counter where he found a small office with an old looking desk. Zo sat in the chair behind it with Klaus in front of her.

“So, I can pay you $8 an hour, not much I know but it’s better than minimum wage. It’ll be part-time work, so no insurance or anything but it should help you pay for what you need. Do you have anyone that can help supplement the rest? Family, or something?”

Klaus gave her a tight smile, “Or something. And that pay works fine with me, better than making nothing.”

Zo nodded, “Good. Now, we’ll fill all these out and talk about scheduling.”

Klaus and Zo worked together to fill out all the paperwork to make him a real, paid member of society. Klaus didn’t have a bank account yet, so he just asked to get a paper check and soon they were talking about schedule.

“Do you have a certain time you have appointments? Or meetings? We’re not going to let this job get in the way of sobriety and health.”

Klaus smiled, “I haven’t set up any appointments yet. Honestly, I didn’t think I would be getting the job today so I hadn’t really thought to get that all situated.”

“Ok, then we’ll start with something simple and we can move it around if needed.”

They continued to talk, Klaus taking out his phone to add his new work schedule into the calendar before adding Zo’s contact information. Before he knew it, an hour had passed and he knew when his first day was.

“If you have any other questions, feel free to call me. But, we should be done for now. I’ll see you in two days,” Zo stood up before walking around to Klaus and holding out her hand. “I look forward to working with you Klaus.”

Klaus stood and shook her tiny hand, gripping it tightly in excitement, “Thank you, so much. You won’t regret it.”

They finished their goodbyes before Klaus walked outside of the shop, sun slowly sinking down in the sky. Klaus walked down the road toward what he knew would be the academy, smiling as he went.

“Ben, can you believe that _I have a job_? Who would have though, huh buddy?”

“That was a pretty big surprise. Especially since you have no job history. And the fact that you kind of word-vomited all of your issues at her.”

Klaus scowled a bit before turning to him, “You’re the one who wanted me to tell someone! Well, I did!”

“I meant tell one of our siblings! You know, the one’s you live with? The ones who could help you if you got really sick?”

“Yeah, well, someone knows. So shut up and just be happy! One problem is figured out!”

Ben sighed before he started nodding, “You’re right, good job getting some work. But there’s still one thing you said you would do today.”

Klaus sighed before he stopped in his tracks. He was lucky that the street was mostly empty, with no one to judge his talk with his brother or run into him during his sudden stop. He looked around before he saw a bench to sit on. He walked over to it before he pulled out another piece of paper from his bag and grabbing his phone.

“Hi, my name is Klaus. I was calling to see about making an appointment?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally -- some comfort! Let me know what you think and Happy Halloween!


	6. Act II Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One step forward, two steps back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! It's been awhile!
> 
> For those who don't know, I live in the U.S. and between the election and the pandemic, my life has been chaotic. Add in the fact that I didn't quite know where I wanted to take this chapter and now I'm a bit behind in updating. Sorry for that! I have the next two to three chapters planned so hopefully it'll go easier.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy the beginning of my "Act II"!

Klaus was hanging what felt like the _1,000 TH _piece of clothing that Zo had handed him. Honestly, this _working_ thing wasn’t for the faint of heart. Since starting just two weeks ago, it seemed that Klaus had done nothing but travel to and from the store to start his work and help the other woman work the store. He knew that second-hand shops in slightly more rundown areas did pretty well from experience, but hadn’t been prepared for the work that really went into keeping a shop well maintained.

They had entered the month of November, meaning that jackets, hats, scarves, pants and sweatshirts were all being stocked. And who knew that warm clothes are so _heavy._

Thankfully, Klaus had been able to use some of the money he made to buy some warmer, better fitting clothes for himself. He’d lost weight since the not-so-end of the world and he was already constantly cold before there was snow threatening the area. While some of his first paycheck had gone to new clothes, and he had to say, people threw out the loveliest stuff. I mean, the sweatshirt he had worn today was black with holographic letters saying _Vibe Check_. Seriously, who would not want that?

The rest of Klaus’ first check it was put into his brand-new bank account. He had talked Vanya into taking him to a bank and setting him up with his first actual debit card (or the first one that he hadn’t _stolen_ from someone). After a boring two hours spent in a stuffy, quiet building, Klaus was walking out with his money safely tucked away and a card in his small wallet.

Klaus coughed into his shoulder as he walked into the back of the store to hang up some suit jackets that had been brought in earlier that day. It was wet and cold outside, limiting the number of customers they saw to just the few that either had to come in or really wanted to get rid of something. And that just left Klaus, Zo, and the randoms that came in a couple hours ago to drop off bags of their old shit. It was getting late, the sun starting to set behind the buildings across the street, making it look a little cooler than it really was but making Klaus shiver non-the-less.

He might have bitched about any kind of physical labor to Ben whenever he could, but he really was grateful. He didn’t know what he would have done if he hadn’t told Zo his situation from the start. She hadn’t questioned him when he told her he had to go to a doctor’s appointment down the road, just told him to come in late. When he showed up, she hadn’t asked him any questions like he’d expected, just asked if he was alright before telling him what work she needed done.

And honestly, when he thought about it, there wouldn’t have been much to tell. Klaus had walked to the clinic that the doctor had told him to go to from the bus stop, worried that it would look as rundown as the rest of the area it was in. But when he walked in, the small clinic was warm and welcoming. He’d nervously walked up to the receptionist before he was led back to one of the small exam rooms. A nurse had come in to take all the medical thingys from him (Ben had called it _vitals_ but Klaus hadn’t seen anything _vital_ about it) before he was left with nothing but his ghost brother sitting on the exam bed while he sat in a small chair against the wall.

“This place looks nice. Lots of reading material,” Ben said, nodding to pamphlets that were sitting in a stand next to a sink.

Klaus planted his elbows on his knees and started chewing on his thumb nail, “Yeah, great place for fun and laughs.”

The two of them lapsed into silence as they waited for someone to walk into the room. Klaus, obviously, knew he was sick. He was pretty much reminded of that fact constantly. But now, sitting in an exam room of an actual HIV clinic, it felt much more real.

Klaus, not a man known for his ability to sit still when he was relaxed much less anxious, stood up and started walking around the room. He walked up to the counter that held the sink and the pamphlets and started leafing through one. He was half way through reading _Common Myths of STI’s_ when the door opened and a young woman with dark skin and short, curly hair and the white coat that marked her as a doctor walked into the room holding a folder.

“Hello! I’m glad you found something to occupy you,” she smiled and nodded at his hand, “I’m Dr. Donna Leigh, but you can just call me Don or Doc or whatever makes you most comfortable.”

“Hi, yeah, my names Klaus. Klaus Hargreeves.”

The two shook hands before Don smiled at him and motioned behind him, “If you could go ahead and climb up on the exam table, I’ll do a quick exam and ask you some questions.”

Thankfully, Ben had the foresight to move out of the way, so Klaus didn’t have to wait for his brother to move (and the awkward moment when he would have just stared blankly at air in front of the doctor).

Klaus jumped up onto the paper covered table, the paper crinkling loudly underneath him as he adjusted his weight. Don came up and did all of her docter-y duties, listening to his breathing, pressing on his belly, the whole nine yards. After she was done, she stood back and smiled, bringing a small stool out from under the counter that had the sink.

“Well, besides the slight congestion still in your lungs, you seem to be doing pretty well. It would also be better if you could gain a bit of weight, but that’s something we can continue to work on,” she grabbed the folder she had set beside the sink, flipping it opened and reading briefly before continuing. “Now, according to the questions you answered when you made the appointment, you were diagnosed just a few weeks ago? And you’ve already started your medication? Have you noticed anything different, any side effects that you’ve noticed?”

“No, um, but I haven’t really been hungry? I’ve been a bit nauseous, too.”

“Unfortunately, the antiviral cocktail you’ve been diagnosed does come with nausea as a side effect. As long as you don’t start vomiting, I think it’s important that you try and stay on this treatment and build up your immune system a bit before we start changing things up. But, if it becomes too much, feel free to contact me and we’ll look into our next options.”

Klaus nodded before plucking up the courage to ask the question he’d been dreading to ask since he first walked into the clinic. “So, I’m currently a little low on cash. I have a job!” he was quick to add, “But, I haven’t been paid yet. When I called, I was told I could get help with payments?”

“We have a lot of options to help you pay for each of your visits,” Don held up her hand placatingly, seemingly used to such questions. “There are grants in place to help people financially. And we can set you up a payment option for any residual money you might owe. As for today, I want to do a full blood workup on you. I want us to know what exactly we’re working with as you start this treatment, that way we know if its working as well as it should be. I also want you to set up another appointment so we can make sure you’re doing alright. And finally, I’ll have one of the girls up front help you fill out all the grant paperwork you’ll need. Does all of this sound alright?”

Klaus nodded as he was bombarded with information. He knew he looked lost and Don seemed to notice as well as she gave him a small smile, closing the folder. “Listen, I know that this is a lot of information. But, it does get easier. We’ll write all this down for you and make sure you know what to expect. And we’ll call you a couple days before any appointment so you remember. Try not to panic.”

“Thanks, uh, it’s just been a long few weeks, yeah know?”

“I can imagine. Can I ask you a personal question?” She paused, waiting for Klaus’ nod before continuing. “I’m guessing by the fact that you’re alone today means you probably haven’t told any friends, or family if you have any?”

Klaus eyebrows jumped up in surprise before he snorted, “How did you guess?”

“Well, I’ve done this for a few years now. Family or friends will typically come to the first appointment with someone. If I’m right, then I do suggest you tell someone. HIV is a tough disease to get a handle on, and while you are doing pretty well, it could get worse before we have all of your symptoms under control. You don’t have to do it tonight, just think about it.”

Don smiled, shock his hand one last time and telling him he could wait there for a nurse before leaving the room, closing the door on Klaus and the brother she couldn’t see.

“She’s right, you know,” Ben said after a couple of beats of silence. “Someone needs to know you’re sick, someone needs to know what’s going on.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit, Benny!” Klaus said, smirking as he leaned back on his hands and glancing down at Ben, who had taken his old seat. “You know! And you can help me if I need something.”

“You know that’s not what I mean,” Ben stood up, getting frustrated, “If you get sick, really sick, there’s nothing I can do! I can’t take you to a hospital or get your meds or take you to the doctor! You have to stop being a coward and tell the others!”

Klaus sat up, feeling his own frustration and some hurt, but before he could respond a soft knock could be heard at the door and it swung open to reveal the same nurse as before. Klaus turned his back on Ben, grabbed his things and followed her.

He had his blood drawn (and really, Klaus wasn’t sure he had any blood left afterwards) and of course, it took forever. It seemed that all of his veins were hiding, and his arms were red and sore by the time the technician he had been led to was able to take all the samples he needed. By then, all he wanted to do was leave, but he was once again led to another woman behind a computer who explained things like _Grant Money_ and _Assistance Plans_. He sat there for another hour and a half before he was finally free to leave, taking with him a new stack of papers and an appointment card.

Ben had stayed by his side the whole time, but was remarkably silent. Klaus walked out of the clinic and onto the only slightly busy street before he finally turned to him.

“I’m not telling anyone right now, Ben. I’m fucking not. So you can stop fucking asking, and if you can’t, I don’t need your help anyway.”

With that, Klaus turned on his heel and walked to work.

And while that had been about a week ago, Klaus and Ben still hadn’t really talked about it. Really, they hadn’t really talked about anything. Klaus found himself alone now more than he had been in years. While Ben wasn’t gone all the time, still reminding him when he needed to eat or take his meds, he wasn’t the normal mother hen he had become since Klaus first got sick. And while Klaus was thankful not to listen to the nagging, he still found he missed his brother.

“Klaus, I’m going to lock up soon. Once you hang those things up you’re free to go.”

Zo’s voice made Klaus jump before he looked up to see the woman glancing up him with one perfectly groomed eyebrow from the checkout.

“You alright?” Zo asked, dry amusement in her voice and a small smile on her black painted lips.

“Oh of course, you know me, just so deep in thought,” Klaus waved the hand not holding her merchandise at her. He finished hanging the new winter items in their spots before walking up to the front.

“You sure you don’t need anything else?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Get out of here before it really starts snowing,” Zo nodded to the window, where some snowflakes could be seen now falling. “Don’t forget, you put your jacket in the back.”

“Yes, thank you, you’re such a doll!” Klaus walked behind her and grabbed his jacket and bag before walking back around the checkout area and to the front door, giving his goodbyes before braving the outdoors.

Klaus tucked his jacket tighter around his form before he started walking to the nearest bus stop. He walked alone, Ben off doing whatever it was that Ben did when he wasn’t following Klaus around. Probably spied on people to keep all the good gossip to himself. Maybe if he apologized to him for being an ass, he’d tell him what he found out.

Snow continued to come down as Klaus made his way to the bus stop. When he got there, he waited in the cold with a couple of other poor souls without their own forms for transportation before the bus finally got to them. The Umbrella Academy was across town, so Klaus was able to sit back and rest a bit before he got home, his arms aching due to the work he’d gotten done and the bruises left over from his numerous blood draws a week ago. He had almost dozed off before he finally made it to his stop. He jumped up and walked the final blocks to the manor as the sun started to set and more snow began spitting out of the sky. People rushed all around him, desperate to get out of the cold and wet and get to where they were going.

It was days like this that Klaus was glad he didn’t have to sleep in an alley anymore.

Klaus was thankful when he finally saw the front gate, opening it and running up to the front door before he was finally in the warmth and out of the slowly growing snow storm. Klaus glanced around and saw that while the lights were one, his family was seemingly elsewhere within the manor.

He hung up his jacket and bag before taking off his shoes, leaving him in bright pink fuzzy socks. He padded his way further into the home, decided to head to the kitchen to make a sandwich. When he entered, it was empty, but still looked like someone (or a group of siblings) had been there just moments before eating as dirty plates sat in the sink. Hoping to find leftovers, Klaus opened the fridge and found a plate of spaghetti with his name written on it in Vanya’s handwriting.

Honestly, what would he do without her.

Klaus took a moment to heat up the food before walking into the lounge. Someone, likely Grace or Pogo, had started a fire, warming up the whole room. Klaus decided to sit down in front of coffee table, pulling up the sleeves of his sweatshirt before he started digging in. He was enjoying his meal when Luther walked into the room, giving him a surprised look.

“Hey, Klaus when did you get home?” Luther looked closer before his eyebrows drew together, “And why aren’t you eating dinner in the kitchen?”

“Hey, big guy!” Klaus said, waving _Hello_ as his biggest and strongest brother, “I just got in! Can you believe it’s snowing!? I’m eating in here because it’s warmer,” he answered, nodding to the fire before spinning some more noodles onto his fork.

Luther looked between Klaus and the direction of the kitchen for a moment, like the very thought of eating anywhere else was a crime itself, before he nodded, “I guess that makes sense.”

The larger man walked around the coffee table to take a seat from his spaghetti slurping brother. He sat on one of the decorative couches, the seat sagging a bit from his weight.

“We missed you at dinner. Have a busy day?”

“Oh, you know me, doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that,” Klaus said, swallowing as he prepared another bite. “It was sweet of Vanya to save me a plate.”

“Don’t tell him I told you,” Luther’s voice dropped a bit as he leaned closer, “but it was actually Diego’s idea. I know he’s been pissed at you for whatever reason, but he made sure there was enough left over for you.”

Klaus paused what he was doing, his arms dropping into his lap as he looked down at his food. He knew that Diego was still mad at him, his continued cold shoulder proving that for him, so the comment was pretty big news.

“Don’t look so surprised, idiot,” Ben said, suddenly appearing beside Luther, his hands in his hoodie pocket. “I told you, they care about you. That’s why you should tell them what’s going on, they’d want to know.”

Klaus had looked up at Ben’s voice, grabbing Luther’s attention as he stared at what he had thought to be empty air.

“What’s up, Klaus? Ghost?” the bigger man looked around, like he could help if something was actually planning on hurting him.

“Don’t worry, Lu. Just our asshole of an octopus telling me ‘I told you so’,” Klaus poorly mocked Ben’s voice, bringing a surprised laugh past Luther’s mouth as Klaus held Ben’s gaze, trying to say he was sorry with just a look. But as he brought his back up to start eating again, the bruises left on his forearms from his doctor’s visit were on display past his pushed-up sleeves. Green and yellow and red stood out in contrast to his pale skin, the bruises made that much worse by his new diagnosis and medication. And while the bruises were close to healing, they still looked ugly.

“What happened, Klaus?” Luther said, worry actually showing in his eyes, “Who did that?”

“Whoa, calm down big guy, I’m fine, no one hurt me,” Klaus held up both his hands, but that just seemed to bring his brothers attention to his arms even more. Luther stood up, walking around the table and grabbed Klaus’ arm forcing him to stand up from his position on the floor.

“Then what the hell happened? Because this,” Luther’s grip tightened on Klaus’ wrist as he shook his arm lightly, “this looks like someone dragged your arms down the road.”

“Luther,” Klaus tugged at his arm, but even without his superpower, his brother would have been stronger than him. As it was, it didn’t seem that Luther was working hard enough to control his strength, his hand tight enough to bruise Klaus’ slim wrist. “get off of me. I told you, no one did this.”

And while that comment would have made any other person’s family happy, Luther dropped Klaus’ wrist like it was on fire before he turned anger filled eyes on him.

“Now I know why Diego has been pissed. You’re using again aren’t you?” Luther scuffed at him, rolling his eyes before putting both hands on his hips. “Of course you are, why would I even ask? You aren’t coming home until late, you’ve lost weight and now this?” He turned his back before he started walking out of the room, “If you want to actually admit what you’re doing and get some damn help, fine. But until then, I’m done.”

Klaus stood there silently for a moment, dumbfounded by how one interaction could go so wrong, so fast. After a moment, he turned back to Ben, who was still sitting where he had been originally, near his slowly cooling spaghetti.

“Well, that was sudden. I didn’t really expect everything to go to shit until next week,” Ben said, glancing at Klaus’ arm. “Is your wrist ok? It looked like he was holding it a bit tight.”

Klaus laughed, looking down at his arm, the wrist already red and most likely getting ready to turn who knows how many new colors.

“It’s fine. And before you say anything, I know. This is all my own fault anyway. Can we just save it for another time?”

“Klaus, I wasn’t going to say that,” Ben looked at him beseechingly sitting up from his slouched position. “Just sit back down, finish eating. You can tell me about what happened at the shop today?”

Klaus was already shaking his head before Ben finished his sentence, “No, I’m finished.”

He grabbed his half full plate of pasta off the table, walking back towards the kitchen. When he got in there, the only trace that Grace had come through was the lack of dishes in sink. Klaus scrapped his food into the trash before putting the plate in the sink.

“Besides, I’m nauseous anyway. Might as well take my meds and sleep the rest of this night away. I have work tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Diego regains some ground and Luther becomes an asshole once again. 
> 
> But do we really expect anything different?
> 
> I plan to have the siblings learn the truth during this "Act" so don't worry! Comfort is on the horizon!


	7. Act II Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He might be acting like an adult, but sometimes, you wait and wait until it's too late

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: Vomiting
> 
> Hello everyone!
> 
> I hope you all are doing well! The positive reaction to this story is truly inspiring! The American holiday of Thanksgiving is a large part of this chapter as I live vicariously through the Hargreeves since I'll be working during it this coming Thursday.
> 
> For all of you reading from the U.S., please stay safe and healthy during this holiday! Follow those CDC guidelines!

Klaus had to peel open his eyes as the sound of his tinny alarm on his phone sounded from his nightstand. Some sunlight was streaming in from his window as he looked around to get his bearings. He picked up his phone and saw he had a couple hours before he had to open the store for Zo, so if he wanted to actually get ready and make his bus he really needed to start getting up.

He sat up, shifting his sore and stiff body, joints creaking as he sat up and criss-cross’d his legs. Like he had done for the past several months, Klaus placed both elbows on his knees and rubbed his hands through his hair and down his face. He knew that after years of not working, being on his feet all day would be tiring. Hell, he’d even thought he might be sore for a while. But even after almost a month of working at _Pay it No Mind_ he’d come home every night exhausted, his muscles feeling like jello, stomach and head aching. Most days, he would come home and eat something before passing out in his room. He’d gone back to ignore the majority of his siblings; unsure just what Luther would have decided to tell everyone in the week following his self-proclaimed ”discovery” that Klaus was taking drugs. And he really wasn’t in the mood for another intervention.

To be honest, he hadn’t really been in the mood for anything recently. While Ben had been a godsend, reminding him when he needed to take his meds and eat, he hadn’t really felt up to it. What had started as some slight stomach pain that would be attributed to using his abs for the first time in his _life_ slowly became a never-ending ache that had settle to the left of his belly and radiating to his back. Eating was becoming more of a chore and while he’d rather just give up, Ben was constantly making sure he was taking in some calories. And if he didn’t want to be constantly nagged, he started taking up a front between the entire family, including his favorite brother; though he knew it would only be a matter of time before he was found out.

The doctor lady had said that the meds could make him feel sick, and since getting off drugs, everything seemed to make him nauseous anyway. So, what if it meant he had to go puke soon after big meals? Probably pretty normal anyway, considering everything that had been going on.

As he stretched his arms over his head trying to wake himself up, Ben walked into the room through the door smiling when he saw Klaus was already awake.

“Oh, good. I don’t have to try to go _Poltergeist_ on your ass. Get dressed, Five’s downstairs making eggs and you should eat something before you go to work.”

“Good morning to you too, sunshine,” Klaus’ voice was still rough with sleep, causing him to cough dryly into a fist before continuing. “And what makes you think that I’d want eggs made by that prepubescent nightmare? He probably put more worms or something in it, might have a freaky apocalyptic recipe book. I’d rather not try his experiments, thanks.”

While it was a thinly veiled attempt to get out of eating, he knew Ben wouldn’t go for it. He’d been at his last doctors’ appointment; he knew that Klaus was supposed to be gaining weight. And while he had been able to throw him off his scent when it came to his more frequent bouts of vomiting, he hadn’t been able to find a way to get himself out of meals.

“I thought you’d say something like that, but don’t worry,” Ben continued, ever the helpful spirit boy, “I’ve been watching him and so has Grace. He’s added milk, cheese, some spices, nothing else. We won’t have a repeat.”

“Well, if I must, I guess I’ll just get dressed and eat with my family before I become a slave to society. _How domestic_.” He waved both _Hello, Goodbye_ in a shewing motion to his brother before continuing. “Now, unless you want me to drop this blanket and give you a real show, you might want to step outside, _mein bruder_.”

Ben smiled before he floated by out of the room, leaving Klaus alone once again. Once he was gone, Klaus took his time turning his body and placing his feet on the floor. The movement made him dizzy, causing him to close his eyes for a few beats just to breath. When he was centered, he stood up and walked to his closet, grabbing a large sweater that he’d recently got from Zo, who said he was the only one she thought would ever wear it. It was purple with geometric designs, really, no one in this town knew what fashion was. Paired with his lashed-up leather pants and boots and he was ready to face the day.

But as he bent over to pull on one boot, dizziness overtook him and he fell to the ground, thankfully just landing on his butt, but falling just the same. The pain in his stomach picked up and he found that he couldn’t catch his breath. He leaned against his bed, and took a couple gulps of breath, trying to work through the pain. He rubbed at his belly, feeling hot and cold flashes while he rested for a moment. Right when he was started to get his head back on straight, Ben was back, sticking just his head through the door looking around before he saw him on the floor.

“Hey, you alright? Not looking to hot from down there.”

“Oh, are you worried about little ol’ me? Don’t worry, Benny. Just trying to get my shoes on!” Klaus made a show of putting both of his shoes on before making completing the task of actually standing up. He got to his feet and swayed for a moment, before he found his balance and showed off his _jazz hands_ at Ben, big smile painted on his face.

Ben gave him a look, one eyebrow raised as he watched his brother before he nodded and motioned for Klaus, “Well, if you’re done, come on down, foods done.”

Klaus walked out the door, now joined with Ben, brushed his teeth and took a quick piss before wondering down the end of the hall to the stairs. This is where he’d have the hardest time tricking Ben, but thankfully, the past several days including this one, he’d been able to put his slow pace down to the fact that his legs were sore from the new work he’d been doing. By the time he’d gotten to the bottom, sweat had formed at his hairline and his legs were shaking. Thankfully, he could use the sleeve of his sweater to wipe the sweat off, disguising the action with the need to cough into his hand as he continued into the kitchen.

The smell of eggs, bacon and fresh coffee was the first thing he noticed, even before the sounds of his family grabbing plates and talking. When he walked into the room, Five was already sitting down and eating like an animal. Luther was pouring coffee while Diego helped Grace put food onto the table. If Vanya and Allison had been there, it would have been a proper family meal.

“Good morning, dear! Sit down, you’re just in time for breakfast,” Grace said, turning her plastic smile to him as she sat down a bowl of fruit.

“Thanks, Mom,” Klaus said, smiling at Grace as he walk around the table his seat across from Five, pulling out a chair for Ben before sitting down himself.

“What are you doing up? You don’t usually show your face until its dark outside,” Five said, barely glancing up as he spooned fruit on his plate before putting a large piece of cantaloupe in his mouth.

“Yeah, I thought you’d meet your _friends_ at night. Or are you really that bold?” Luther cut in before Klaus had a chance to speak, giving him a cold look as he sat at the head of the table with a plate overflowing with scrambled eggs.

“Would you give it a rest, dude?” Diego said, as he walked back from where he had been pouring a glass of milk. He handed it to Klaus, “Here, it’s whole milk. Drink it, you look like you haven’t eaten in days.”

“Oh, you are just simply lovely, Diego. And if you must know, I’m helping someone I know this morning and thought I’d just have some breakfast with my lovely family,” Klaus took some of the fruit and put it on his plate along with a biscuit.

“Luther, if you’ve got so much of a problem, why don’t you just get the hell out?!” Diego erupted, already seemingly on edge. He had started to pull out a chair, planning to sit next to Five, but Luther’s comment spurred him to stay on his feet. He pounded his hands on the table, disrupting Five.

“Could you two idiots spend just ten minutes not fighting? Some of us actually have shit to do today,” Five looked like he had already reached the end of his rope. Whatever the three of them had been up to before Klaus entered the room, it obviously hadn’t been relaxing. All three of his brothers were tense but Grace, as per usual, seemed completely unphased.

“Now boys,” she started, plastic smile still in place as she turned around from the place she had made for herself at the sink as she started cleaning up, “you know the rules; no fighting at the table. Finish eating and you can have your conversation somewhere else.”

“Sorry, Mom,” Diego said, glaring at Luther one last time before he sat down and started eating.

Klaus had used the growing tension around the table to eat the few pieces of fruit he could stomach and drink the rest of the milk before he stood up, biscuit in hand.

“If that’s the end of dinner theatre, I really must be off. Places to go, people to see, you know how it is,” Klaus blew Luther a kiss with the biscuit that was in his hand, as the man continued to give him a cold stare. He walked into the foray, pulling on his jacket and grabbing his bag before opening the door, pausing when he heard his name being called.

“Klaus, wait a minute,” Diego was running from the kitchen, as he worked to try and grab his attention. Klaus raised an eyebrow at him before he turned around, throwing the door a little wider as he started making his way down the stairs of the front stoop.

“If you want to talk, you’re going to have to multi-task. I really do have somewhere to be.”

Klaus kept walking, hearing Diego following behind him as he made his way down the sidewalk to the bus stop.

”Listen, Luther and I talked yesterday, and he told me that he caught you after you came in the other night?”

Klaus rolled his eyes, taking a bite of his biscuit as he kept walking, responding with his mouth full, “O’ cor’se he ‘old ‘ou that.”

“Klaus, I know I’ve been an ass –”

Klaus coughed into his fist as he struggled to swallow, “Look at you! You’re becoming self-aware!”

Diego gave a surprised laugh before stopping, grabbing Klaus’ elbow to stop him.

“I’m being serious man. I know how hard it has got to be, staying sober and I should have tried to help instead of giving you shit. So, I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry.” Klaus stood still, feeling surprised as he watched Number Two. He couldn’t believe that his brother was finally believing him, apologizing for how he’d been acting and even going as far as to acknowledge all the work that Klaus had been doing. But before he could say anything else, Diego continued, “I should have seen your relapse and tried to help. I should have supported you instead of avoiding you and maybe you could have turned everything around before things got out of hand. I’m sorry, Klaus.”

All the positive feelings that Klaus had been feeling towards his brother were suddenly gone. While deep down, he knew Diego was just trying to be supportive he just wanted one person in his family who believed him for what he said, not for what they thought they saw.

Klaus started walking again, the pain in his stomach making itself known once again, almost doubling him over. He threw away the rest of his biscuit in a nearby trashcan as Diego jogged to catch up.

“Look man, all I’m saying is that I want to be here for you. And so does everyone else. We want to help. Listen, tomorrow we’re all going to have dinner together for Thanksgiving,” Klaus could feel Diego’s eyes on him as he continued to speak. He tried to hide his surprise; he hadn’t even realized the holiday was the next day. But, it did explain why he had the next day off, “everyone would feel a whole lot better about how you’re doing if you show up. I know you’re not going to want to see Luther, but do it for Allison and Vanya. Do it for me?”

Klaus continued to walk, rubbing his stomach as the sickeningly sweet taste of nausea flooded his mouth, “Thanks for the kind words, Number Two but, I have appointments elsewhere that really do need my attention,” Diego stopped walking, causing Klaus to turn around and see the look of both disappointment and concern on his face. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. I really do have plans today. But, just for you, I’ll keep all my plans open for tomorrow. You have me all to yourself, baby,” Klaus winked as he started walking down the sidewalk, leaving his brother behind.

“What, not going to ask for a ride today?” Diego yelled out to him, trying to bring a more uplifting tone back into their conversation.

“I wouldn’t want to burden you so early in the morning, Diego. Don’t worry I know where I’m going. _Adios, mi hermano._ ” Klaus waved _Goodbye_ has he continued down the block, speeding up to make sure he made his bus on time.

He had been walking in silence for a few moments before Ben choose to speak up, “Honestly, that could have gone a lot worse.”

“Yeah, cause it went to great in the first place,” Klaus mumbled, trying to stop others walking near him from seeing him talking to thin air. He wrapped an arm around his middle, pain continuing to grow. “Luther just thinks I’m shooting up again; meanwhile, Diego has gone from anger to pity and who knows what Five and the girls think.”

“But you see, Klaus,” Ben said, smirking sourly at him as he got to the bus stop, rushing up the steps of the vehicle before finding a seat by himself in the back, “if you had actually communicated that you, you know, had a life threatening illness, maybe, they would have helped you instead of think you’re hiding something. Which, you are.”

Just then, Klaus felt a sharp pain hit his stomach and radiating up his back, bile now creeping up his throat. He leaned forward, placing his forehead on the back of the seat in front of him. He wrapped his arms around his stomach and started taking deep breathes. He had made sure that anytime pain would start in his middle, he would find someway to distract Ben, or at least work to ignore the symptom. But as the days had gone on, the pain had started to become more severe.

“And see, if Diego knew, maybe he could help with this. Though, with the fact that you’ve been hiding whatever is bothering you from me in the first place, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

And honestly, Klaus shouldn’t be surprised that Ben had noticed something was wrong. Not only was Ben the biggest stalker on the planet, but he’d also been the one to remind Klaus to take his meds, pick up his prescriptions last week when he was once again paid and document the symptoms he said were ‘worrying Klaus, make sure you tell the doctor during your next appointment’. Now, it seemed, the inevitable had come simply because Klaus was too physically and mentally exhausted to keep up the charade any longer.

“Klaus?” Ben said, seeing that he hadn’t responded and was actually trying to gain his composure on public transport. “You alright? What’s going on?”  
Klaus moved one of his hands briefly to wave his hand, trying to get Ben to stop asking questions. He continued to take a couple of breaths before he felt the pain subside briefly, leaning back in his seat, sweat now beading onto his forehead and his shirt sticking uncomfortably to his back.

“I’m fine, Ben. Stomach just not agreeing with me today, is all.”

“Are you sure?” Ben leaned in, squinting intently at him before continuing, “Don said that if you started feeling worse, you should call the clinic. Maybe you could call and get an appointment, I’m sure that Zo won’t mind.”

Klaus gave a big sigh before he finally turned his head, “Zo can’t come to the shop until late in the afternoon, and she’s _finally_ trusting me to watch the store by myself. Plus, even if she could come in, I need the money. All my meds plus the payments to the clinic have wiped out everything I had been able to set back. I promise I’ll see what Zo has me working the rest of the week and set up an appointment.”

Klaus dropped the topic then, as more people started crowding onto the bus. The rest of the ride was a daze, Klaus using it to collect himself and getting some comfort from the cool glass of the window. The bus finally made it to his stop, running slightly behind as snow had started to fall causing start and stop traffic that did nothing for the ever-present nausea that he had been fighting. The cool late November air was the only thing that stopped Klaus from loosing the little breakfast he had on the sidewalk. He glanced at the time and started a rushed, shuffling walk to _Pay it No Mind_ just in time to unlock the door and turn over the _Open_ sign by the promised opening hour. He took a moment to catch his breath before turning on the lights and register and finally sitting down behind the counter.

The day both dragged on and raced by Klaus. The cold, wet weather kept a lot of window shoppers out, but that didn’t stop some people hoping to clean their closets out before the holiday from dropping off bags upon bags of clothing. Normally, the prospect of going through strangers (sometimes actual) dirty laundry was exciting, but Klaus was too exhausted to be excited about anything. He could feel a low-grade fever start around lunch time, back and stomach aching as he hung up new items and rang up the few customers that did come in. By the time his shift was coming to an end and Zo had arrived to take over, Klaus felt like he was nothing but a sticky, miserable mess.

“Afternoon, Klaus. Any problems today?” Zo walked around the counter, taking a look at Klaus who had started looking more and more pale as the day had gone on, shoulders slightly slumped over and some strands of curly hair sticking to his forehead. “Whoa, man, you could have called me. You’re looking a bit rough, everything alright?”

Klaus wiped a hand across his forehead _Goodbye_ peaking out before he leaned on the counter and tried to look a bit more put together, slapping a smile on his face and trying to bring more life into his moist and sore body, “It was no problem, Zo. And everything went great! I think I made you some money today, lots of folks looking for last minute dinner jackets and getting rid of some pretty interesting items.”

The wink that Klaus added to the end of his statement did nothing to convince his boss, who glanced at him like he was full of shit (and, yeah, maybe he was), “I’m sure you did. Listen, I don’t have you working until Friday. We don’t really have ‘Black Friday’ deals, but people like to come and pretend they didn’t spend a bunch of cash on shit they don’t need. I have you coming around 3 in the afternoon, but call me if you aren’t feeling up to it, alright?”

Klaus felt moisture gather in his eyes suddenly. Maybe it was because he hadn’t seen a whole lot of support from his (living) family members, or maybe it was the fever he knew was continuing to increase, but Zo’s continuous support was something he was always surprised by.

“Thanks, Zo. I appreciate it. I plan on spending 90% of tomorrow sleeping and eating. I’ll get an appointment with the new Doc for Friday morning before I come in, don’t worry. I’ll come in and help with the sales right after, I promise.”

“Feel free to call out if you need, man. I might not be able to give you paid sick leave, but I’m not going to make you work when you are feeling so lousy,” Zo smiled at him and waved him out of the shop. Klaus started walking in the light snow to the bus stop, pulling his phone out as he went.

“Are you really planning on getting an appointment?” Ben asked with a small amount of amazement in his eyes, actually surprised that his boneheaded brother was showing any amount of self-preservation.

Klaus kept rooting around his bag, leaning against the mouth of an alley as he looked for his phone. “Yeah, I am. I feel like crap, and maybe they’ll be able to fit me in on Friday. It’s too late today, I just have to get through Thanksgiving dinner with the family.” He paused in his search, looking up, “Hey, maybe I can say I’m sick and they won’t make me join in on whatever Luther has planned.”

“Stop that,” Ben said, glaring at his brother who had finally found the small pink phone at the bottom of his bag, lifting it up in victory. “If you actually want Luther and the rest to believe you, then you have to try, too. And that includes doing probably stupid family things that Luther finds on the internet.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Klaus rolled his eyes, as he called the clinic. Thankfully, after speaking with one of the ladies on the front desk, he was able to set up an appointment for Friday at 11 before wishing her a Happy Thanksgiving and hanging up.

“There, doctors appointment made. Family plans set up; would you look at that, Benny, your bother is a real-life adult,” Klaus smiled at his bother before coughing lightly into his hand.

As Ben took in his brother, pale and sweaty, leaning against the wall of a pretty disgusting alley, he lifted an eyebrow, “Yeah, you look real adult right now. Come on, lets go home and you can get some food and go to sleep.”

The ride on the bus back to the academy was a nightmare, the constant stopping and starting causing bile to creep further and further up his throat. By the time he had gotten to his stop, he was forced to stagger to a nearby trashcan to vomit. Ben watched on from beside him, rocking back and forward nervously as he watched.

“Maybe you should go back to that Urgent Care Clinic you first went to. This seems to be pretty rough.”

Klaus waved him off, staggering down the sidewalk once he was done, thankful that only a few people who had come off the bus had been present to see his latest _Poltergeist_ display. “I really don’t want to sit inside a clinic for hours before a holiday, just to be told to rest or whatever. Besides, I already had an appointment planned, and Don said she’d want to make changes to my meds. Might as well wait and have everything figured out all at once. Plus, that’ll be way cheaper.”

Klaus shivered as he walked, finally making his way up the walk to the academy and making his way into the warmth. He hung up his jacket and bag before he walked up the stairs to his room eating a protein bar that Ben had made him grab a couple of days ago before he took his meds and collapsed on his bed.

He was asleep before he hit the bed.

\----------------------------------------

_The sounds of explosions were coming from all around him. But they weren’t the only things he could here. Screams came from all directions, many of them nothing more than a call for attention others yelling indecipherable words._

_But Klaus heard his name over and over again._

_He didn’t know when ghosts within the forests of Vietnam had learned his name. He didn’t know when they had started haunting him. All he knew was that there were more ghosts than there were Viet Cong._

_In fact, Klaus could no longer see any American soldiers._

_There was nothing but ghosts screaming all around him._

_KLAUS, KLAUS, KLAUS!!!_

_WHY AREN’T YOU HELPING ME?!_

_FOUR, SAVE ME, FOUR!_

_But the one to catch his eye was Dave._

_Dave, who was standing in front of him, covered in blood, looking angrier than Klaus had ever seen him in the war._

_“Dave, thank god I—” Klaus took a step towards him, ready to fall into his arms, but Dave grabbed his wrist and squeezed._

_“Why’d ya leave me here, Klaus? You could have stopped it. All you had to do was hold my hand, open that briefcase and we would have been safe,” Dave said, getting into Klaus’ face with a sneer, “But no. All you can do is run from your problems and lie.”_

_“Dave no, I’m sorry,” Klaus cried, tears streaming down his face, “I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t want this to happen.”_

“Klaus, wake up!”

Klaus sat up suddenly, the small hand that had been shaking his shoulder flew off as his gasp got caught in his throat launching him into a coughing fit. He felt the weight on his bed shift as the owner of the hand moved and started rubbing his back to help.

Once Klaus caught his breathe and opened his eyes, a saw that Vanya was sitting on the edge of his bed, looking at him with concern. Klaus rubbed the sweat off of his forehead before giving his sister a small smile.

“Why, Vanya dear, how surprising to see you here.”

She smiled at him, “Hey, sorry, I normally wouldn’t just come in, but your door was open and it looked like you were having a nightmare. You alright?”

Klaus glanced at Ben briefly, who nodded at him, before turning back to his smallest sister, “Yeah, uh, what’s life without a little night terror every once in a while?” He glanced around, looking out the window and seeing that the sun was higher in the sky than he would have thought, “Hey, what time is it? Isn’t it Thanksgiving or whatever?”

Vanya laughed before answering, “That’s why I came up here. Luther had Grace make a late lunch instead of dinner because Allison wants to FaceTime with Claire and Diego made a big fuss about increased crime during the holidays,” she rolled her eyes before continuing. “We’re going to eat in a few hours and Luther wanted to have ‘family time’ before we ate.”

All of it was said with so much sass that Klaus couldn’t help but feel proud. He smiled before commenting, his voice rough with both sleep and the fit that he had once he woke up.

“You can tell him I’ll be down in a flash. I’m just going to freshen up.”

Vanya smiled at him, standing up and walking to the door before pausing for a moment, “If you don’t feel up to it, I can tell Luther you’re sick? You don’t look too great, and it’s not like he can make you come down.”

As nice as that sounded, with how Luther had been acting and now believing he was back on hard drugs, he didn’t think it would totally fly.

“Don’t worry, Vanie, I’m fine. Just feeling a bit tired. I’ll be right down.”

Vanya gave him a nod before walking out, Klaus finally allowing himself to relax for a moment. He slumped down, putting his head in _Hello_ as he rubbed as his sore stomach with _Goodbye._

“I know I told you that you needed to participate today, but maybe Vanya’s right,” Ben said, floating over and taking their sisters spot at Klaus’ side. “Vanya knows you’ve been sick, and if you’re up here sleeping all day surely not even Luther can say anything.”

“It’s not just about that, Ben,” Klaus said, sniffing lightly, “Since all of this started, since I first learned I got sick, I’ve barely seen anyone. I just want to sit down with everyone.”

Ben nodded at him, smiling, “Well then, lets get down there. Since we’re eating early, you should be able to eat and go back to bed no problem.”

Klaus smiled before taking a deep breathe and standing up. He immediately grabbed onto his nightstand for balance as pain wrapped around his stomach, surprising him. He took a couple of deep breathes again before putting on leggings and a bright galaxy patterned sweatshirt and fuzzy socks. He then walked into the bathroom across the hall, brushing his teeth and splashing water on his face. Klaus stared at his reflection for a moment, and saw why Ben was trying to get him to stay in his room. He was paler than normal, red streaks decorating his cheeks in what he knew was a fever. His eyes had dark bags under them and he was slumped in a way that showed he was in pain. He stared into his own eyes to strengthen his resolve before finally walking into the hallway.

As he walked down the stairs and closer to the nearest sitting room, the voices of his siblings could be heard. He followed the sound until he saw them. Five, Vanya, Diego and Luther were all sitting around a television someone had brought in watching some kind of dog show. It seemed that Diego and Luther were arguing over which dog breed was best while Five read some giant physics book while Vanya watched on their other two brothers with amusement.

Klaus put his hands into the kangaroo pocket of the sweatshirt, smirking and made his presence known, “Now aren’t you all just the epitome of family togetherness.”

“There you are man, I was wondering if you were going to sleep all day,” Diego said, smiling slightly at him.

“I don’t know why anyone would be surprised that you slept all day,” Luther muttered, giving Klaus a steely look, “not like any of us can expect you to act like an adult.”

Diego punched him and opened his mouth to start arguing before Klaus interrupted him. “Now, now, brother dear, no need to fight on my behalf. It is a holiday after all! Let’s all drink and be merry, or whatever you do.”

Klaus collapsed into an arm chair near the fire place, warming his cold feet in the process, Ben taking post to his side, leaning invisibly against the wall. Luther rolled his eyes and turned back to the television while everyone else seemed to be appeased. He dozed in the chair, feeling his stomach continuing to ache fiercely as he listened to the sounds of his siblings speaking and turning pages as announcers from the TV’s speakers announced a new kind of dachshund was taking the stage.

That was the scene for a few minutes before Klaus heard feet patting into the room. He opened his eyes to Allison walking in with one tray covered in cut fruit and another one holding vegetables.

“I brought some snacks to tide everyone over,” Allison rasped, voice a bit stronger than the last time Klaus had heard it. She set the trays on the coffee table before taking a seat beside Vanya.

“You should try something Klaus,” Ben said beside of him, nodding to the trays, “You haven’t eaten a meal since yesterday morning, and you got sick yesterday afternoon. You need to keep your strength up.”

Klaus sighed, before sitting up reaching over to the trays, “So nice of you to bring us finger foods, Ally. I thought movie stars were supposed to have this done for them?” He winked as his sister laughed.

“Lord knows you could do with some fattening up, Klaus,” she rasped again, a pleased look on her face showing she was proud to be talking at all.

Luther scoffed as Klaus was taking his seat again, some strawberries and pineapple pieces on a napkin.

“You got something you want to say, Luther,” Diego said, seemingly itching for a way to goad their brother into a fight.

“Nothing, I didn’t say anything,” Luther said stiffly, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

But Klaus hadn’t been listening, more focused on taking small bites of his fruit until it was all gone. But instead of filling the pit that seemed to have been in his stomach, bile started making its way up his throat. The aching in his stomach turned to pain and Klaus knew that he needed to make his way to the bathroom if he wanted to _not_ make a fool of himself in front of his siblings.

“If you all could excuse me,” Klaus said, standing up and getting ready to cross in front of the TV in order to get to the nearest bathroom, “I’m just going to step out—”

“No, Klaus,” Luther thundered, apparently done with what he saw as continued escape attempts Klaus had been making from the rest of the family, “you can’t just leave and go out to do drugs or whatever it is you do all day on the streets. You can’t take something that Allison worked hard on and just _leave._ ”

Klaus couldn’t stop himself from laughing, “For one, Luther, I’m not running from anything. And Allison didn’t work hard on these, they make precut fruit trays. The most she did was take the fruit out of the plastic. No offense, Ally.”

Before Allison could say anything, Luther continued on, “Shut up, Klaus! You can’t just leave whenever you want! We’re all trying to become a family, but you’re never here. You’re always gone doing God knows what. Five didn’t risk everything to save you just to have you throw your whole life away!”

Five started yelling not to bring him into this, but Klaus didn’t hear him. Saliva had flooded into his mouth and a cold chill broke out on his skin, signaling that he was about to upchuck on his unsuspecting family. But he couldn’t voice this, too disoriented with how sick he felt. All he could do was reach and grasp Luther’s arm and take a step forward trying to get around him. But Luther wasn’t having it, throwing one huge arm in front of his thin brother to stop him.

“No Klaus, you can’t just run away from this conversation!”

But Klaus couldn’t hear Luther. In fact, Klaus couldn’t hear anything. His momentum had continued him forward at full force, causing him to run into his brother’s arm. What might have normally been just a moment of breathlessness from running into something filled with nothing but muscle, turned into nothing but burning pain. It felt like he had been stabbed, pain becoming all he knew.

Klaus yelled out before he could do nothing but fall into blackness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hides*


	8. Act II Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family knows somethings wrong. But this is just the start of things they know and don't know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> Thank you SO MUCH for all the positive feedback! I tried to get this chapter out faster, but between life and my own personal health, I've been unable to. So here it is, some long awaited sibling comfort!

Vanya really should have guessed that something was still wrong.

When she had woken up, she felt her stomach churning with nerves at the thought of spending the whole day in the house with just her family. While she had spent time with most of her siblings individually since the world didn’t end, it had been decades since she’d stayed in the same house with all of them for a full day. And it had never happened since they were all adults (or, adults in mind, in Five’s case). So hopefully, the house was still standing by the end of the day.

After a cup of coffee and small breakfast with Allison, she spent the next few hours helping Grace in the kitchen. She’d lived on her own for a few years now, but she hadn’t cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner on her own and she was excited to learn.

As she moved around the kitchen, she was aware of Luther, Diego and Five coming in and out for food (or just coffee for _some_ ).

“Vanya, thanks for helping out,” Luther said, walking up to Vanya with his shoulders slumped over. “Listen, when you get done here, could you meet the rest of us in the sitting room? I’m hoping that all of us can take some time to be together.”

Not really knowing what one’s family is meant to do on a day like Thanksgiving, Vanya stuttered out, “Ye-yeah, sounds great,” with a smile before Luther turned around and left.

Vanya was still a little surprised as she stood there and walked away. Her nerves came back full force, causing her to turn around again and start focusing on cooking once again. By the time she came back to herself, it was late morning and most of the prep had been completed. She looked down on herself and saw that she’d made of her comfortable clothes. She walked upstairs in hopes of taking a shower, leaving Allison in the kitchen with Grace. She hurried up the stairs to shower, quickly grabbed a change of clothes and walked into one of the upstairs bathrooms. Once she was finished and changed, she started walking down the hallway, turning to sound of movement to her left.

Vanya saw that the sound was coming from Klaus’ room. His door wasn’t closed, halfway cracked open. She’d assumed he had left earlier that morning, since an opened door meant that Klaus typically wasn’t home. Instead, it looked like the man had been sleeping this whole time.

Vanya swung the door open the rest of the way, seeing her brother wrapped up in his sheets, sweating and moaning softly.

”Klaus, wake up,” she said, walking further into the room. But, of course, simply speaking to someone in the throws of a nightmare. Slightly wary after trying to wake Five up a few days ago (and getting a knife to the neck for her troubles) Vanya tried again, grabbing onto her brother’s shoulder and trying again. “Klaus, wake up!”

While she had been expecting it, the sight of Klaus shooting up had surprised her. She jumped back for just a moment before the sound of the coughing fit he had fallen into spurred her to sit on the side of his bed and tried to do any of the comforting gestures she had seen on television. She stayed silent as she waited for her brother to catch his breath.

“Why, Vanya dear, how surprising to see you here.”

She smiled, completely unsurprised by how nonchalant he was acting, “Hey, sorry, I normally wouldn’t just come in, but your door was open and it looked like you were having a nightmare. You alright?”

Vanya watched as Klaus glanced around. She didn’t know if he was still partially awake, or if he really was back on drugs like she had heard Luther talking about. She was really hoping he had been wrong.

“Yeah, uh, what’s life without a little night terror every once in a while? Hey, what time is it? Isn’t it Thanksgiving or whatever?”

Vanya laughed before answering, happy to see that he was at least waking up and becoming himself just a bit more, even if he did sound pretty rough, “That’s why I came up here. Luther had Grace make a late lunch instead of dinner because Allison wants to FaceTime with Claire and Diego made a big fuss about increased crime during the holidays,” she rolled her eyes before continuing. “We’re going to eat in a few hours and Luther wanted to have ‘family time’ before we ate.”

Klaus gave her a large smile before clearing his throat and answering, “You can tell him I’ll be down in a flash. I’m just going to freshen up.”

Vanya smiled at him, standing up and walking to the door before stopping. To be honest, Klaus didn’t look that great, some of his curls sticking to his forehead with sweat and his eyes glassy and unfocused. “If you don’t feel up to it, I can tell Luther you’re sick? You don’t look too great, and it’s not like he can make you come down.”

But Klaus just gave her a smile and waved her off, “Don’t worry, Vanie, I’m fine. Just feeling a bit tired. I’ll be right down.”

Vanya gave him a nod before walking out, and heading back downstairs. She walked into the sitting room where an argument between Diego and Luther could already be heard. As soon as she walked in, Vanya saw that the two were arguing over something a judge had said on some sort of dog show while Five was sitting at the bar. They had thrown away the alcohol when Klaus first started getting sober, so it was even more surprising the tiny 58-year-old had somehow gotten ahold of a martini.

“Have they been like this all morning?”

Five scoffed, taking a sip before answering, “If you mean obnoxious, then the answer is yes.”

Vanya laughed before she gathered up some courage and spoke up, “Should you really be drinking that, Five? Klaus is coming down in a minute. Plus, your body’s only 13.”

Five rolled his eyes before taking a gulp of his drink and blinking away. Vanya’s feelings were hurt for a moment before he blinked back with a book, this time sitting across from Diego and Luther, who hadn’t stopped arguing.

“Would you two idiots keep it down? I thought we wanted to spend time together,” Five snapped at them. Vanya had to stop herself from laughing as both of them looked at Five with the identical look of someone who had sucked on a lemon before going silent once again. After a few minutes, both started arguing again, but this time, mindful of their little-older brother reading in the room. Klaus walked in then, just as Diego was explaining to Luther that Beagles were superior over other hounds, the sight of their siblings bringing a smile to his face.

“Now aren’t you all just the epitome of family togetherness.”

Diego stopped in the middle of his speech, as he turned his attention to Klaus, “There you are man, I was wondering if you were going to sleep all day.”

“I don’t know why anyone would be surprised that you slept all day,” Luther muttered, giving Klaus a steely look, “not like any of us can expect you to act like an adult.”

Vanya could feel Five stiffen beside of her, but before he could day anything, Diego punched Luther in the arm angrily fully prepared to start a new fight.

“Now, now, brother dear,” Klaus interrupted before anything could be done to Diego in retaliation, “no need to fight on my behalf. It is a holiday after all! Let’s all drink and be merry, or whatever you do.”

They all watched as Klaus shuffle-walked his way to a chair at the front of the room. The obvious issue he had walking was troubling to all who were watching him. Vanya could see Diego eyeing Klaus and could feel the tension that continued to hold Five’s body. Hell, even Luther was looking on with concern, his brows furrowed as he tried to deduce what was wrong. But once he was sitting, having flopped down in a dramatic way that was so _Klaus_ , Luther rolled his eyes and turned away, goading Diego into more conversation over what dog was going to win even through neither had been really watching.

Vanya worked to draw Five into a conversation about what he was reading (through, to be honest, Vanya really wasn’t comprehending much of it) as Allison walked in with some fruit and vegetables that she had seen in some store-bought containers earlier that morning.

“I brought some snacks to tide everyone over,” Allison rasped. She set the trays on the coffee table before taking a seat beside Vanya.

Klaus, unsurprisingly, was the first to acknowledge the food, making some joke before taking some for himself. But the one with the real problem seemed to be Luther, who had continued to glare at Klaus as he worked to get some food.

“You got something you want to say, Luther,” Diego said, though she wasn’t sure if he was really protecting Klaus or just hoping to have another reason to punch Luther that wouldn’t end with him being called a child by Five.

“Nothing, I didn’t say anything,” Luther said stiffly, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

Vanya glanced nervously at around the room, before looking at Allison, “So, are you excited to talk with Claire later?”

Allison gave a big smile that didn’t completely reach her eyes, “Yeah, I am. This is the first Thanksgiving I haven’t been there with her. But, I’m hoping that Patrick’s family has been distracting her enough that she doesn’t really notice.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine, Allison. I mean, we never really celebrated the holiday but she probably won’t read into –”

She was interrupted once again by Klaus, who stood up with a bit of a sway.

“If you all could excuse me,” Klaus said, and making his slow way around the room, “I’m just going to step out—”

“No, Klaus,” Luther thundered, making both Allison and Vanya jump a bit in the seats, Five glancing up over the top of his book, “you can’t just leave and go out to do drugs or whatever it is you do all day on the streets. You can’t take something that Allison worked hard on and just _leave._ ”

Honestly, Vanya wasn’t sure who was going to jump at Luther first, Diego or Allison. But Klaus surprised her when he actively laughed in Luther’s face. “For one, Luther, I’m not running from anything. And Allison didn’t work hard on these, they make precut fruit trays. The most she did was take the fruit out of the plastic. No offense, Ally.”

Five snorted before Luther continued. “Shut up, Klaus! You can’t just leave whenever you want! We’re all trying to become a family, but you’re never here. You’re always gone doing God knows what. Five didn’t risk everything to save you just to have you throw your whole life away!”

“Don’t bring me into this, you colossal dumbass!” Five yelled, slamming his book closed. “Who cares if he’s doing drugs, anyway? What’s your big hang-up? From what I’ve read, you never cared before.”

Vanya flushed as eyes turned on her. But before she could think of anything to comment with, Klaus continued forward, only to be met with Luther’s ire once again. But then everything seemed to move in slow motion. Luther threw out an arm to stop, telling Klaus he couldn’t run from his problems. But then, suddenly, he yelled out in what sounded like pain and it seemed that Klaus just--

Dropped.

The world was silent before everyone burst into sound.

“What the fuck did you do?!” Diego raced forward, seemingly at a loss at weather he should go to Klaus or stay beside Luther in some sort of attempt of protecting their brother. Meanwhile, Five had blinked over, kneeling beside Klaus as where he had dropped. Allison and Vanya both walk over, Vanya kneeling at Klaus’ other side. Five turned him to the recovery position before turning to his brothers.

“Luther, what happened?”

For the first time in Vanya didn’t know how long, Luther looked speechless. “I-I don’t know! I wasn’t trying to hit him or anything, he barely even ran into my arm before he just collapsed!”

Five turned back to Klaus, like he was a problem just waiting to be solved. He started by lifting up his shirt, as Vanya laid her hand on his forehead, hoping to bring some comfort to him as sweat stuck his hair to his face and pain lines visible. But the comforting gesture took another meaning.

“Five, he’s burning up.”

Five glanced at her before turning back to their brother. He placed the back of his hand on Klaus’ cheek before glancing down at him. He lifted up the thin man’s oversized hoodie and glanced at his belly. He pressed down, earning a groan from the man in question even though he stayed unconscious.

“There’s no give, something’s wrong. Diego, go grab Grace. Luther, take him to the infirmary.”

Movement started all around Vanya, Diego sprinting out of the room, yelling for Grace while Luther worked his arms under a pliant Klaus like he was made of glass. Allison grabbed Vanya’s hand as Five blinked away, both sisters finding comfort in each other. They made it into the infirmary, Five pulling out the blanket set up on the cot while Luther laid down Klaus gently.

“Do you know what’s wrong, Five?”

Five’s hand was resting under his chin as he stared at his brother, a look of intense concentration on his face. “It could be a number of things, really. But whatever it is, it caused enough pain to have him pass out. And if he has a fever, who knows how long it’s been a problem.”

“Could it be the drugs?” Luther’s question caused a groan to come from both Vanya and Allison, but he just raised his hands in defense. “I’m not trying to start anything. But if he is using, could that be what the problem is?”

“I don’t know, _Luther_ ,” Five snapped, his calm demeanor breaking away momentarily to show some concern on his face as he looked up at his larger brother, “I don’t know what’s wrong with our brother. But do you want to continue to assume the worst, or do you want to try and help him?”

Before Luther could give any kind of comment back, Diego rushed in, Grace’s heels clicking behind him.

“Oh dear, what seems to be the problem.”

Grace walked her way over to her pseudo-son, putting her finger tips on his temple and down his cheek, sensors placed by Reginald decades ago reading his temperature.

“It seems he does have a temperature of about 101.3 degrees. And Five, you said his stomach was firm?”

At Five’s nod, Grace continued her examination, going on to check Klaus’ pulse and before feeling his stomach herself eliciting another groan from the man.

“My dears, I’m only capable to diagnosing small illnesses and treating minor wounds. My programing no longer allows for massive surgeries,” Grace glanced at all of them, an unspoken story hidden in her eyes. “You’ll need to take him to see a doctor.”

And with that, all siblings were moving in rhythm in a way that they hadn’t moved since they were all a team led by a maniac in a monocle. Luther lifted Klaus in his arms once more, a wince coming from the smaller mans face. All the siblings packed out of the room, leaving the house to pack themselves into the available cars outside.

“Luther, my cars bigger, get in. I can take one more person, whoever’s left can with Vanya,” Diego instructed, already getting his keys ready. Five blinked into Vanya’s passenger seat while Luther, Klaus and Allison followed Diego. Vanya silently started his car and pulled out, following behind Diego who was already speeding down the street.

“Do you have any idea what could be going on, Five?”

Five glanced at Vanya before looking back down at his hands. She could tell he was having a hard time staying still, having to wait for a car instead of teleporting exactly where he wanted to be.

“I’m not sure. But I don’t think Luther is right.”

They both rode silently for what felt like hours and minutes all at once. Before Vanya knew it, they were pulling into the hospital. Vanya parked behind Diego as all the siblings rushed out, Luther holding Klaus in his arms, the man’s head resting in the crook of his neck and one arm dangling.

Diego ran up to the desk yelling for help. Another woman came from some double doors and instructed Luther to lay Klaus down before he was wheeled away, leaving the Hargreeves feeling even more empty and anxious.

After both Vanya and Diego moved their cars into actual parking spots, all the siblings took over one corner of the Emergency Room. The waiting aware wasn’t too full, with some sitting and waiting to be seen while others were waiting on loved ones. The Hargreeves stood out like a sore thumb, all of them huddled together as Diego worked to fill out Klaus’ paperwork on an old clipboard.

“Do you need any help, Diego?” Vanya asked, taking a seat between him and Allison.

Diego looked up, tears in his eyes, “I don’t know how to answer half of these. I mean, I know the basic stuff, but has he been sick recently? When did the symptoms start? I have no idea. I don’t know how to fill any of this out.”

Vanya gently took the clipboard from him while rubbing his shoulder. “It’s alright, Diego. I’ve been talking to him a bit recently. Just relax, I’ll fill it out.”

Diego nodded before rubbing at his eyes and standing up, mumbling something about needing some fresh air.

Vanya looked at the questions and realized she didn’t know all of the answer either. She put down that about a month ago he had pneumonia and that he’d been seemingly more tired lately. But other than that, she didn’t know when he first got the fever or when his stomach started hurting. Honestly, she had assumed that he was doing fine. It was becoming more and more obvious that none of them knew much of anything.

Vanya went to turn in the clipboard at the front desk, “Ma’am, I’m turning this in for Klaus Hargreeves?”

The nurse looked up to take the clipboard, “One moment, we have some of his things for you to hold onto.”

She handed her a phone and an old set of dog tags. Vanya pocketed both of them before going to sit back down. By the time she was back, Diego was sitting in his seat again seemingly more composed.

They all sat in silence for what felt like hours before a phone started ringing. They all looked at their phones, confused as the ones they typically talk to were sitting right there, Allison being the only exception. When she looked up with a frown and a shrug, Vanya realized she also had Klaus’ phone in her pocket that she hadn’t checked. She looked at the caller ID, seeing the name “Zo” pop up, though that meant nothing to her. She glanced around and got nothing but curious faces and shrugs before she took the plunge and answered it herself.

“Um, hello?”

“Oh, hi! Sorry, I’m trying to reach Klaus, I must have used the wrong number.”

“No, you didn’t! Sorry, this is Klaus’ sister Vanya. He, uh, can’t come to the phone at the moment,” Vanya didn’t know if she should just announce that her brother was in the hospital to a random woman she had never met before.

“That’s fine, I can call back. Or, you might know. I was wondering, do you know if he’s still planning to come to work tomorrow? I knew he was going to the doctor but he really hasn’t been looking good so I wanted to check in.”

Vanya was stunned silent for a moment. It seemed that this random woman who she was almost certain none of them have meet before, knew that their brother was sick. Knew that he was trying to see a doctor. Yet none of them, not even those who lived with him full time, had any idea.

“Um, do you know what had been wrong with him?”

There was silence before she got an answer, “Not exactly? Look I can just call back when he’s free.”  
“No, I’m sorry. It’s just, Klaus is in the hospital and we’re not quite sure what’s going on.”

“I’m so sorry,” Zo said, actually sounding saddened by the revelation. “Listen, I don’t know what’s up with him or if it had anything to do with his diagnosis. Let him know he’s clear until he’s feeling better. And call me if you guys need anything. Sorry, I’m trying get the shop opened now. Take care.”

With that, Zo hung up, and Vanya was starting to get a headache.

“Who was that?” Diego asked, leaning forward like it would help him receive the information faster.

“That was Klaus’ boss,” but Vanya was cut off before she could continue.

“Wait, _Boss?_ ” Luther said with obvious disbelief. “Since when did he get a job?”

“I assumed he told you. I helped him set up a bank account about a month ago. I assume that’s when he got the job.”

She took a deep breath to let that sink in before continuing. “She was asking if he was going to be in work since he was sick this week. She said she didn’t know if it had to do anything with his diagnosis. Do you guys know what that means?”  
She looked around at their blank expressions, knowing they didn’t know any more than her. Before she could continue, a man was walking through the double doors and calling their name. All at once, the siblings were walking to him, subconsciously putting Luther upfront in the position of leader while the rest took to the positions they held while they were a part of the Umbrella Academy.

“We’re the Hargreeves. How’s Klaus?”

The sight and sound of Luther caused the doctor to take a slight step back before he continued. “I’ve been treating Klaus. He’s awake and doing better, you can come back and see him now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So they know that SOMETHING is wrong -- but what is it??? I PROMISE we'll hear from Klaus next chapter and see some sort of confession! I wanted to go with Vanya's POV to allow everyone to see the freakout that is Klaus collapsing. That's also why I reused some dialogue from the previous chapter. But don't worry! More is on the way! And an answer to what this illness is! Thanks for reading!


	9. Act II Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Discoveries can finally be made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *comes out of hiding*
> 
> Well hello there everyone, it's been a while.
> 
> I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to come out with a chapter. I was in the process of finding a new job, then I had to find a house and then have a ~few~ mental breakdowns and writing wasn't something that was able to happen. Thankfully, while things are still crazy, the writing bug is back and so is my muse. I'm hoping to start posting more regularly again! But thanks for sticking with me! Enjoy the chapter!
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING:  
> Just to let everyone know we will have some described medical conditions. If that's a issue, please think of your mental health first!

Klaus was aware of bits and pieces after he collapsed. The feeling of his family all around him, poke and prodding at him. Every once in a while, he could feel cool hands on his face which was some comfort. But then, someone would press on his stomach and he’d go back under.

He woke briefly once more in what he knew had to be in a moving car, but as whoever was driving sped down the road, the nausea and pain grew until he was once again blacking out.

At an undetermined amount of time later, Klaus woke up with a much clearer mind. The first thing he saw was the ghostly face of his brother overtop of him, a white ceiling in view through his head.

“Thank god,” Ben sighed a breath that he didn’t really need. “I was getting worried. How do you feel?”

Honestly, Klaus thought that was a fair question, since he didn’t quite know where he was and the last thing he remembered was having to puke and then nothing.

“Just peachy, Benny,” Klaus said, as he tried to assess his situation. He saw an IV of clear liquid running into his arm, something he assumed was lowering his fever and giving him fluids. His stomach was still painful if he gave it any thought, but he truly felt better than he had in days. “How long have we been in here?”

“Well, you’ve been unconscious for about four hours. You’ve only been here for about three.”

Klaus coughed into his fist before looking around. He was obviously in some sort of emergency department, the bed he was laying in was in a small room, almost able to touch both walls if his arms were stretched out. There was a clear door at his feet, with a curtain halfway closing it off. He looked down and saw someone had taken the time to get him out of his clothes ( _naughty!_ ) and put him in one of those ugly gowns. Klaus turned his head, ready to ask Ben more questions, as the door slide open and a doctor walked into the room.

“Mr. Hargreeves—”

“Oh, please,” Klaus interrupted immediately, “anytime you say _Mr. Hargreeves_ , I have the urge to search for my father! Just call me Klaus.”

“Klaus then,” the doctor smiled before glancing down at the folder he had brought in with him. “I’m Dr. Norman. From the looks of things, you seem to be suffering from Acute Pancreatitis. That’s caused by the inflammation of your pancreas due to what could be a multitude of problems. Now,” at this the doctor went back to glancing at Klaus, who shifted uncomfortably ion the bed as he became the center of attention once more, “we know that there is a history of drug abuse and multiple OD’s that were treated at this facility and others, but we don’t have very many recent basic health records. Have you been diagnosed with any other illnesses that we should be aware of?”

Klaus chucked nervously, running a trembling hand (the one without the IV) through his hair. “Well Doc, I found out I had HIV about a month ago? But,” he was quick to add, hoping to stave off any judgement, “I have started my medications! I’ve been taking them every day, I haven’t forgotten once.”

Dr. Norman nodded, writing down all the information he could, “That’s good, thanks. Do you happen to know the medications you’re on?”

Klaus opened his mouth like a fish, before glancing slightly at Ben who rolled his eyes and gave Klaus the information he needed. “Viread, Cambivir and, uh, Norvir? I think? And I’ve been taking some vitamins. And those are the only drugs I take, I’ve been clean and sober for months.”

“That explains some of the results we’ve gotten then,” the doctor took a step to the end of the bed before continuing. “Some medications used to treat virus’ like HIV can cause some damage to the pancreas. But, any kind of IV drug abuse could also lead to pancreatic damage. Its likely that any kind of symptoms that you were facing some troubles were masked by withdrawals or other HIV symptoms so it went unnoticed. And now that you’re on those medications, its fixing other problems but making your pancreatic issues worse.

“Right now, you currently are presenting with a high fever and other advanced acute pancreatitis symptoms including fluid in your abdomen causing high amounts of pain and a likely infection. We’re treating the infection right now with antibiotics, fever reducers and fluids. But, we will have to drain the fluid from your stomach before we are able to discharge you. So, we’ll be admitting you within the hour. Do you have any questions?”

Klaus felt like he did when he first learned about his HIV diagnosis. Like there was a slight ringing in his ears and wasn’t quite sure he knew what was happening. “Yeah, um. Since the meds partially caused this, what do I do now?”

“We’ll start you on another cocktail typically used to treat HIV. You’ll need to meet with your doctor soon after you leave the hospital, but hopefully this one will have fewer complications.”

Klaus nodded, slightly appeased that there was at least a game plan. “Is my family still here?”

The doctor took a step back to the door, preparing to leave. “I believe the nurses that helped bring you in said that all of your family was still waiting. I can bring them in, after we have you placed in your room if you like?”

“Sure, but um,” Klaus look at the doctor before looking down at his hands, “please don’t tell them anything about the diagnosis. I’d like to do that if that’s alright.”

The doctor gave a small smile and a nod before walking out of the room to get a nurse to admit him.

Klaus and Ben were once again alone in a small medical room, just like they had been weeks ago. The only difference now was that Klaus was making a plan on how to tell his family the truth instead of how he was going to hide his latest problem.

“Oh no, I know that face,” Ben said, taking a step over from his leaned position against the wall, raising his fist to point a finger in his brother’s face. “You tried doing this by yourself. It was a dumbass thing to do, but you did it anyway. And now you’re in the hospital. Obviously, something here isn’t working.”

Klaus hadn’t heard anything. Klaus wasn’t hearing anything. All Klaus could hear was a continuous ringing overwhelming his brain. He’d been doing what he was supposed to. He’d been eating, taking meds, hell, he’d even gotten a job! He’d listened to what the doctor said, he’d done what Ben had told him to, mostly. He’d done everything right. He’d been working so hard.

No one was going to take that away from him.

Klaus sat up in the bed, turning around and pressing the mute button on the stupid beeping machine they had attached to him (one thing he’s happy he had learned from his continuous trips to ER’s in the past few years). He’d swung his legs around and had his hand gripping the port of the IV before he had even noticed Ben hoping to get his attention.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” He was yelling, waving his arms like he’d been screaming at him for the past few minutes. Which, honestly, he probably had.

“Well, Benjamin, I am going to get my sexy ass out of here. I wouldn’t say this place is really my _scene,_ ” with that, he ripped the needle out of his arm, bending it with some of the bedsheets to stop the bleeding.

“And where exactly are you going to go? This isn’t like the other times you snuck out after you OD’d, you can’t just ignore this! Someone is going to notice, not to mention that our siblings are waiting to learn what the hell happened!”

While Ben raged, Klaus was trying his hand at standing, swaying for a moment hoping his legs would hold him before making his slow way to the drawers located behind the hospital bed. After some searching, Klaus was able to locate his clothes and shoes, gratefully taking a seat on the bed again to breath before he started getting dressed.

“Do you actually think you’ll be able to get past them? Because if you do, you’re a lot more stupid than I originally thought.”

“Well, why don’t you get ready to be amazed, Benny boy!” Klaus threw a deranged grin to the ghost before slowly standing again, using the side of the bed to walk to the door of the room. Ben trailed behind him, but Klaus didn’t listen to his grumbling, focusing the whole of his energy on just staying upright.

Klaus peeked a small part of his face outside the door, only seeing other closed rooms and an empty nurse’s station. With no one around, Klaus made his shuffled and hobbled way down the hallway as he gripped the wall with the remaining strength he had. Thankfully, Klaus had been inside of this hospital before, and knew right where he was going. He just had a small distance to go before he could one of the hidden employee doors and find his way to the entrance.

Klaus kept walking, hoping he seemed normal enough walking around the department. He didn’t think about it and just felt relieved when he found the door he was looking for and walked on through.

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No sooner had the doctor said they could see Klaus after he was admitted, a nurse came out into the room and was pulling him aside, away from all of them. Vanya looked around at everyone else, but her eyes stopped on Five as his eyes narrowed.

“Five, what is it?”

“Somethings wrong,” Five said, watching the nurse continue to gesture at the doctor from the few yards they had walked away. Before Vanya could comment on the pretty obvious comment, the doctor was walking back over to talk with them.

“It seems that your brother has managed to leave his room. The staff hasn’t been able to find him. Do you know if he’s done something like this before?”

At this, Luther rolled his eyes, slowly losing the concerned furrow that had brought his eyebrows together, “Yeah, he likes to do that. I guess we can go home and just wait for him to show up.”

The doctor was already shaking his head before Luther had finished his sentence, “Unfortunately, your brother is very sick. We have staff looking for him now, but it’s important that he is admitted and treated, or we could be talking about permanent organ damage.”

Luther and Diego paled in unison while Allison gave her own soundless gasp. Vanya stood there, trying to find something to say, some question to voice before she noticed that Five was looking to the left of the group with a growing smirk.

“I don’t think you need to worry about searching for our brother any longer.”

Looking in the direction Five was looking, through the half glass walls of the Emergency Room, Klaus making his slow way with one hand on the wall as he closed the distance to the exit. There was a bright blue flash, and suddenly, the family was looking at Klaus’ surprised face as Five appeared out of thin air, his hard smirk now directed at their missing brother.

Diego sighed, glancing at the doctor who was starting to look more surprised by the second, “You might want to get a wheelchair and room ready if you want to keep him here. We’ll make sure he stays.”

With that, the nurse grabbed a chair from behind the front counter and went to join numbers Five and Four in the hallway while the doctor went back into the ER to see where they should be taking their escaped patient.

Vanya continued to watch as Klaus spoke to Five, their smaller brother just squinting his eyes more before Klaus huffed and allowed himself to be guided backwards and placed in the chair. As he was wheeled away, Five walked back over to his family eyes on the ground and brows crinkled on his forehead.

Vanya was the first to grab his attention, “What did he say?”

Five shrugged, “It was mostly rambling and talking to Ben. But he did say that he had been taking his meds and going to his appointments. So, something has been going on for a while.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time Klaus had bade it to the final stretch of hallway he had to travel down in order to leave the hospital, black was surrounding his vision and the only thing he could truly see was the door at the end of his mission. He didn’t know what he was going to do once he got there, but he was going to make it even if it killed him.

Klaus had seen some lovely Emergency Room guests that were no longer a part of the _physical_ world when he started this journey, but since his vision started greying out, the ghosts had also taken a hike. (Honestly, if he’d known that walking around half dead is all he needed to do to get rid of the ghosts, he would have done that weeks ago.) As he continued to shuffle his way to the door, one had gripping the wall, Klaus finally saw the hazy shape of Ben trying to speak to him.

“Klaus, this might be the dumbest thing you’ve ever done. And for what? Just to trick your family for a few minutes longer? It’s not going to work!”

“Benny...’s all fine…we’ll just ge...get out and.”

But before he could find the breath to finish his sentence, and with just a few yards to go until sweet freedom, a blue light flashed in front of him and little Number Five was standing directly in front of him.

“Hey, little buddy!” Klaus coughed roughly into his hand, as he tried to perk up a bit for his brother, “It seems that all of this was…a little bit…unnecessary…”

Five interrupted as the taller man tried to catch this breath, “Yeah, don’t even try that, _Number Four_. We just had a chat with your doctor, and it seems that you thought you could just slip out? What the hell!”

“Wow, using your number. He really is pissed,” Ben said, crossing his arms and giving Klaus a self-satisfied smirk.

“You don’t fucking…say,” Klaus mumbled to his side before giving his attention to his smaller, older brother. “Listen, Five-y…Everything’s.fine,” Klaus coughed, trying to grab the train of though he had started with. He really wanted to finish this conversation and get back to whatever it was he was doing. “I just need to…get home…and take my meds. I have…an early appointment tomorrow.”

“Meds? What are you talking about?” But Five didn’t get a reply, because at that moment, a nurse came out into the hallway pushing a wheelchair over to the brothers.

“Mr. Hargreeves, we’ve been looking for you! Let’s get you into a room and into bed then you can keep talking to your family. If you can excuse us?”

Five nodded and watched as Klaus was gently placed into the wheelchair. It seemed that once Klaus was sitting, his brain no longer felt the need to document what was going on around him. He remembered everything in bits and pieces before his thoughts solidified once again to the realization that he had been placed in a private room at some point, and his siblings were actually all present.

Klaus stayed still and watched. His sisters were sitting on an uncomfortable looking hospital couch, whispering to each other. Luther was sitting near the couch in an oversized looking hospital recliner, Diego brooding behind him and looking out the window. Five was standing beside Diego talking in low tones. Ben was leaning against the wall on the other side of the bed, book in hand.

“No way to get out now,” Ben said without looking up from his page, “just tell them. And Five’s definitely not going to buy fake sleeping so don’t even try it.”

Klaus gave a sigh and shifted, the pain in his stomach causing him to gasp and cough. Looks like he had already outed himself.

“And sleeping beauty is awake,” Diego said, going around their other two (living) brothers to sit in the uncomfortable looking chair sitting to the left of Klaus. “And if you try to fly the coop before the actual professionals say you can, I will be handcuffing you to this bed.”

“Oh, Diego,” Klaus said, adjusting the nose prongs he just felt tickling his face, “I didn’t know you had a bondage kink on top of everything.”

“Dude, gross,” he said, grabbing Klaus’ hand to stop him from messing with the tube.

Vanya had come around to his other side, narrowly missing phasing through Ben who was still standing behind her. “You had us worried. How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling marvelous!” Klaus said, trying to shift slowly to keep the ever-present pain to a minimum. “Feeling much better. You guys wouldn’t happen to be here to help me get home, would you.”

“Not a chance,” Five blinked himself to the foot of the bed, giving him a look that would have been more menacing if it wasn’t on the face of a teenager. “Do you really think they’d let the guy that tried to walk out of here half unconscious barely an hour ago go home?”

Klaus gave a smile that had more teeth than warmth, “A man can hope. And I definitely would have made it if weren’t for your small ass getting in my way.”

Five’s glare got more intense, “It’s more likely that you would have fallen on your face than actually making your way out those doors, idiot. What the hell is going on?”

Klaus hadn’t even realized that he’d glanced on Ben until the ghost gave an answer to his silent question, “They still don’t know anything. But Five knows that you’re on meds but doesn’t know why. But Klaus, you _have_ to tell them.”

“I just got a bit sick, nothing too horrible. And it’s not like I was trying to hide anything. I mean, Vanya knows I’ve been sick!”

Ben rolls his eyes as everyone turns to their smallest sister, Vanya’s own eyes widening, “Hey, don’t throw me under the bus, you told me you were feeling better.”

Five raised an eyebrow, “Wrong answer, try again.”

Klaus looked down at his hands, noting the bandage on his hand from the needle you pulled out of his hand earlier but it seems they’d been able to find a useful vein in the crook of his elbow. He knew Ben was right, he knew that he no longer had a choice, but he had hoped that he wouldn’t have to have this conversation until he could wrap his own head around the diagnosis.

“Well, the doctor seems to think that, uh, somethings wrong with some organ?” He got his answer after a glance from Ben, “My pancreas? Whatever that is. Anyway, there’s some infection and fluid in my stomach? They’ll give me something to help and I’ll be right as rain.”

“For something like this to cause you to pass out and go to the hospital means it’s been a problem for a while,” Five said, his glare continuing to bore into him. “What do they think caused it?”  
Klaus laughed nervously, “Well, drugs didn’t help but--.”

“Damnit, Klaus,” Diego let out a big breath, turning around and taking a step away from the bed before continuing. “This is my fucking fault. I found you pawning that shit and I didn’t do anything. I didn’t even try to help.”

“No, Diego listen. I did pawn that stuff, but that’s not what I used the money on --.”

Of course, that’s when Luther decided to chime in. “I don’t know why any of you would be surprised,” Luther leaned forward and put his head in his huge hands. “This is what he’s always done. Good ole Klaus, always looking out for himself.”

Allison had slapped a hand on Luther’s shoulder, but didn’t try to say anything to refute his claim, just staring down at her hands in disappointment.

Diego had turned around and was looking at his brother with sad eyes, “Man, you have to talk to us when the cravings get bad. You can’t just go back to drugs, look where it gets you!”

“You have to stop being so selfish, Klaus. You can’t just steal from all of us and expect everything to be fine!” Luther continued to say, slowly standing and speaking over Diego.

The disappointed rants continued and Klaus slowly started to shrink in on himself as emotions continued to rise. Allison had also stood up and walked over to Vanya, helping her stay calm and not lose control. As the voices reached all new highs, Klaus had finally had enough.

“It’s HIV!” Klaus finally yelled out, pitching the room into a silence that never followed the Hargreeves. “It’s HIV. The drugs caused damage, yeah, but I was told I had HIV a little bit ago. The meds I have to take are what pushed the whole thing over the edge.”

The silence continued for one more moment before everyone started up with their own set of questions, leading to a cacophony of noise. Surprisingly, it was Vanya that got their attention.

“Stop!” Her voice could be heard throughout the room, her powers causing everything to shake minutely before calming down as the noise turned to silence. “We can ask questions later. When Klaus isn’t waking up in a hospital bed. For now,” at this Vanya turned to Klaus before speaking again, “Klaus, you can count on us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> I am not a doctor! So if all this doesn't makes sense, sorry!


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